Uzumaki Naruto: KuroTenshi
by Fiori75
Summary: During the Battle of the bridge a power long since thought dead awakens in Naruto. The power of the Elemental Soul, Giving Naruto the potential power to shake the Ninja world as we now it.
1. Awakening

Fiori: new story that's been kicking around in my brain after i read the story Fallen Tenshi. Now as the story does have merit, I mostly just see the author bashing. And i figured hey lets do something similar with less bashing. This will follow major canon events but with major differences. Don't own Naruto other whise Danzo would have been stepped on during the Kyuubi attack.

Danzo: I cannot allow that to happen, for the good of Konoha, you must die. (Hoard of root Ninja appear)

Fiori: Oh yeah thats why I stopped saying stuff like that.

Uzumaki Naruto: Kuro-Tenshi

Chapter one: Awakening

It was a cold and stormy day in Wave, clouds had blotted out the sun and mist enveloped the land, but none more so than at the bridge. The bridge that was to give hope to the long oppressed people, the bridge that was currently the sight of an intense battle, the likes of which Tazuna hoped never to see again. What made the battle infinitely more disturbing was not the fact that he could die any second. It was the fact that twelve year old children were being used as soldiers. One stood in front of him She had long bubblegum pink hair and fair skin, she wore a short Qipao dress that ended at her waist, under that were tight green shorts. She stood next to him shaking in fear and quoting things from the shinobi rule-book. There were two others children defending him as well, one had Raven black hair and pale skin he wore a short sleeved blue, almost black, shirt with a fan on its back and white shorts. That child was currently battling yet another child who could have only been a little bit older than him. Ice sheets as tall as the man sent to kill him had sprung up around both young men as they battled it out. Through out the battle he could hear gasps of pain from the raven haired youth.

As Tazuna watched the dome in morbid fascination he noticed an orange blur move towards the dome. this blur could have only been one person, the third child hired to defend him. He was dressed quite differently than the other two, wearing a bright orange jump suit with a red swirl in the middle of his back, he had tanned skin and sun-kissed hair, his eyes were the clearest blue he had ever seen, so clear that they made the sky seem dull in comparison. Yet that is not what attracted him to the child-soldier. It was the pain hidden in those eyes. That child had known suffering that seemed to be on par or surpassing the pain Gato had inflicted upon wave. yet still he smiled and fought. Truly he was the ideal for a hero.

Naruto landed on the bridge as Tazuna gazed at the dome, taking a quick second to survey the situation through squinted eyes. Noting the battle between his sensei and Momichi Zabuza, a fight where he would be more a hinderance than an ally, his attention was quickly drawn to the dome of ice that seemed to have come from no where. Sensing that someone was in immediate danger he charged forward.

At first his back protested, something it had been doing all week. He had no idea what it was that caused him pain, yet he had not mentioned it. Mostly for the fact that he had felt worse pain, the villagers had seen to try to make that so. The other reason was he was afraid that he would have been thrown into bed and told that his part in the mission was done. This was something his pride could not allow. So he had ignored it, it and the irritation in his eyes.

He arrived in the dome just as the masked Oinin was about to deliver a punch with an fist clenching three senbon between fingers. The punch seemed to be aimed at Sasuke's eyes, something that would have destroyed him as a ninja. Moving as quickly as his protesting back would allow, Naruto deflected the punch and countered with one of his own to the hunters midsection. Sasuke got off lucky considering instead of loosing one, or both of his eyes, all he wound up with was a pierced right ear. One of the senbon had pierced the upper cartilage of his ear as the other two missed him completely. Sasuke grit his teeth as the Oinin let go of the three needles and was sent backwards by the force of the punch, leaving the one needle as his first earring.

"Teme, what the hell you doing on your knees?" Naruto asked cockily.

"Baka! What are you doing in here, if you had stayed outside the dome we might have had a chance." Sasuke growled as he instinctively going along with the verbal dance that had become habitual around Naruto. He was truly actually very glad for what the blond had just done, since had he not Sasuke might have very well lost his eyes, and without them he would never be able to kill his brother.

"Yeah, then we'd be calling you Sekigan right now wouldn't we." Naruto quipped, bringing a small smile to Sasuke's face despite the situation.

"So you are the third member of this team?" a cold, yet slightly familiar voice asked. Turning both youths saw the Oinin in a mirror, they could only guess that he was looking at them in contempt and as they could not see his eyes. what they did not know was that his face was grimaced in pain, the punch Naruto had given him had felt similar to that of a raiton jutsu. Yet He knew this to be impossible. As Haku gazed at the two of them he grew increasingly aware that the Blond was in some sort of discomfort, based of his constant squinting and the posturing of his shoulders. 'must have over trained.' Haku mused before moving into the attacks.

And so it went Haku flew from mirror to mirror throwing senbon needles at them with reckless abandon, covering the two of them as if they were pin cushions. Naruto and Sasuke however were no were near idol while this was going on. The two did there best to dodge the needles. Sometimes they would attempt a counter attack, yet for the most part the were on the move constantly dodging the needles. Yet no matter how many times they were hit, they never went down. Both showed exemplary skill in the regards of pure stubbornness. Haku realized that if they were to continue at the pace they were, he would run out of chakra long before they would.

Quickly coming to the conclusion that he had to end the fight as soon as he could he threw a small concentrated hail of senbon between the two of them. The barrage had the desired affect of driving the two apart, moving to another mirror, Haku threw yet another set of needles at Naruto. Naruto having stumbled and felt the pain in his back worse than ever was ill prepared to move away form the incoming hail of senbon. Closing his eyes and throwing his arms in front of his face, Naruto prepared to feel the pain that the needles promised. Yet it never came, glancing out from behind his eyes he saw in front of him Sasuke. The dark haired youth gave him a weak smile before collapsing to the ground.

"Sasuke!!!" Naruto cried out as he fell to the ground. "Sasuke, get up, get up and keep fighting. We're supposed to get out of this together."

"Dobe... listen... I always... thought... hated you... don't die... live... dream." Sasuke rambled as the light left his onyx eyes.

"Is this you first time loosing a comrade?" the masked-nin questioned from the mirror. "Loosing someone is never easy, especially the first time. yet it is necessary so that we may harden our hearts and become the tools of our village." The cold voice spoke. As the voice spoke naruto felt energy pour through his body. Slowly he began to rise.

"..."

"What was that?" the Oinin asked.

"I." Wind began to blow from no were and electricity began to spark around him. "Said." The wind blew the mist from the bridge as it started to circle the rising Genin the electricity growing more violent, "Shut Up!" A small tornado began to form at his feet and spin violently and rapidly, the electricity arced and danced in the torrent of wind. Everything in the dome was thrown around that wasn't in the eye of the twister. Sasuke's limp form was thrown clear from the dome, landing in a heap at Sakura's feet. Needles were sent flying in all directions, charged with the power of lightning.

Haku watched in his mirror fear gripping his heart, this was something he had seen once before. It had been different, but the core of it was still the same, the forces of nature would surround the youth in a protective cocoon and when it was gone they would be changed. it was the signs of what was once the most prominent bloodline in all of Kiragakure no Sato, the eremento reikon of the Uzumaki.

Zabuza had been in the middle of his fight with Kakashi when he felt it, while Haku had only ever seen one awakening as they were called he had seen five. He had grown familiar with the sensation of the elements themselves going haywire in response to an Uzumaki awakening their Kekkei Genkai. From what he could tell now one of the brats had been an Uzumaki, probably the loud blond. Cursing that he had yet again underestimated the Konoha-nin he jumped away from Kakashi.

'of course it would be just their style to kidnap an Uzumaki. Their village is so bloodline crazy, I wonder how many bloodlines are actually from their village. But that blond seemed awfully damn loyal to Konoha if he wanted to be Hokage.' he thought with venom. Looking at the dome he saw the wind and lightning mixing around one central point.

"Haku, get your ass over here!" He called trying desperately to not let concern slip into his voice.

"Zabuza-sama, he's a-"

"I know he's a fucking Uzumaki!" He finished for Haku.

"Wait what the hell are you two talking about?" Kakashi asked startled by the turn of events.

"You have an Uzumaki who's Kekkei Genkai is activating, why would i risk my apprentice in that maelstrom." Zabuza growled.

'The Uzumaki's have a bloodline, why did Kushina never mention it. She would have been received in much higher regard."

As he looked onward at the small twister that had engulfed his student, he became increasingly aware of a large approaching force. As he and Zabuza turned to meet the force there was a tremendous gust of wind that seemed to blow in all directions as one, it was then followed by a particularly loud boom of thunder as rain began to fall. Glancing back at were Naruto once was, all he could see were the scraps of the shirt and jacket that Naruto once wore. Turning back he caught the tail end of how Gato planned to kill them all while they were tired from their fight with one another. He even saw how he planned to do it, a force of over one hundred Ronin would certainly be a challenge to any, especially two tired Jonin.

"So how do we do this?" Kakashi asked tiredly glancing at the pair of Nukenin. Only to gape in shock as Zabuza seal his massive sword into a scroll. "What the hell are you doing?" He asked in confusion.

"Getting rid of a potentially lethal lightning rod." was all the answer h got out of the man.

"Aw so the baby demon's afraid. I knew you were just a worthless coward. Demon of the mist my ass." Gato sneered, thinking that Zabuza putting the sword away was a sign of surrender, rather than clever self preservation.

"Gato, I'd be less worried about me if I was you." Zabuza said boredly with a hint of malicious glee in his voice.

"oh and who should I be worried about, that bastard of a kid always following you around, or that freak in the mask. No wait I should be afraid of the corpse and the bubblegum bitch." Gato laughed, "After my men are done killing you and destroying the bridge, they have free roam to ransack the town and take anything to there hearts content. that'll show the miserable urchins here how pointless it is to try and fight me. Who knows maybe I'll get some good whores out of this." Gato finished.

All the while Gato had been talking Zabuza had his eyes to the sky looking at something, Kakashi had no idea what the man was thinking, taking his eyes from the threat in front of him, yet oddly as Gato speech went on he seemed to get happier and happeir.

"Yeah that ought to be enough." Zabuza said while looking up, curiosity finally getting the best of Kakashi he too gazed at the sky as lightning flashed, only for his eyes to widen in utter shock at what he saw.

There diving from the sky was a shirtless Naruto, a pair of wing blacker than onyx sprouted from his back spread out ward to control his dive. The blue of his eyes had consumed everything else, not whites no pupils, just the blue, yet it was a darker blue than ever before. His eyes were darker than that of the ocean depths. What's more he cold have sworn that he saw arcs of electricity coming from his eyes. His right arm was held back and a shape that could have only been a kunie was held in it. Yet what was scarier still was the bolt of lightning following him in his wake.

"He is who you should worry about." Zabuza said evilly as Naruto plummeted from the sky. Many had now finally seen his descending form, those who had been through Kiri when the uzumaki still thrived knew the immediate danger they were in and had thrown them selves off the bridge. Others still just gazed on in shock as the boy descended upon them, Gato being one of them. He looked as if he was trying to figure out exactly what he was seeing. the look was still on his face as the kunie descended and rent his head from his shoulder, the bolt of lightning hitting the bridge soon after. the bolt decimated the remaining men on the bridge who had not jumped to escape the incoming death. As the arcs of electricity danced around the bodies of the bridge, Naruto began to shakily rise to his feet when the sound of clapping caught his attention.

"Marvelous kid, true Uzumaki style. You're a regular Kuro-Tenshi, Naruto." Zabuza cheered as he remembered the Genin's name.

"Dark angel, Catchy." Naruto smiled before collapsing into unconsciousness.

It was a day later in a seedy shop on the border of Mizu no Kuni that both bought and sold information. These were the places one went when they wanted the latest news on nukenin, or when they had a particularly juicy scoop on an up and coming ninja or samurai. It was in this shop that a tired and and weary Ronin entered.

"Hey oyagi!" He cried out to the elder man behind the counter.

"The hell do you want punk."

"Big info." he gasped out as he tried to regain his breath. Those two words had gained the full attention of the man behind the counter.

"Well spit it out lad, if it's as big as you say you just might get a bit of money." The elder threatened.

"Well get a load of this, I think i just saw the last Uzumaki." The young man finally managed to say.

"Impossible, Kiri wiped them all out during the blood line purge, they were the first to go along with the Kaguya." the elder stated in shock.

"Well apparently they missed at least one, this kid had the classic signs of an Uzumaki."

"Oh, what were his affinities?" The older man questioned in glee.

"I think Wind and Lightning, he also must have had a hard life, his wings and eyes were pretty dark." the ronin answered.

"Fascinating, what was his name?"

"Uzumaki Naruto, and what's more, Zabuza the demon of the bloody mist declared him the Kuro-Tenshi."

"Fascinating, tell me more about him. I need features if I'm to put him in the bingo book." the elder man demanded.

"I'll do you one better, I took this picture after he killed over eighty men by directing a lightning bold at us." The ronin said as he pulled out a picture of naruto shirtless standing weakly on the bridge.

Later that day after the ronin left with a fairly large sum of money in his pocket, a messenger bird was sent to Kiri with details about the Kuro-Tenshi, and recommendations that he be added to the bingo book as a C-clas shinobi.

Fiori: Chapter is done, so tell me did you like it, hate it, think it has potential, tell me I need to know. Tell me or I shoot Haku.

Haku: Wait what?

Fiori: you heard me. And you in the audience better tell me who you want Naruto paired with, Cause I got nothing for pairings this time. Though i am leaning towards Hana or Tenten

Trabslation:

Sekigan: One eye

Eremento Reikon: Elemental spirit (Explanations shall be done next chapter if you like it well enough)


	2. Soul of the Uzumaki

Fiori: Fianlly done with this chapter and I'm thankful for all the reviews. You gave me enough to prevent Haku's death

Haku: (Sighs in relief)

Fiori: However you didn't give me enough to not shoot him. (Points gun)

Haku: Wait what?

*Bang* (Haku falls to the ground holding his knee in pain as it bleeds)

Fiori: See what you made me do. Next time review more so I don't have to shoot him again. Now onto the story, I don't own Naruto.

Zabuza: You bastard you damaged my tool! (Pulls out the Kubikiri Hōchō and starts trying to cut Fiori's head off)

Kuro-Tenshi

Chapter Two: Soul of the Uzumaki

It had been a full day since Gato's fall at the bridge, to the glee of everyone, especially Sakura, Sasuke had survived the needles, and he had woken shortly after the lightning struck the bridge. Zabuza had laughed when he got up saying something about how Haku detested needless death. What had surprised the Konoha-nin more was when he apologized to Tazuna. It would have been heart warming had he not mentioned the only reason he was apologizing was that there was no money in killing him anymore.

Currently though the Nin of Konoha sat in Tazuna's dining room around the kotatsu, to the opposite side were the pair of Kiri nukenin. Tazuna was at the entrance looking from one side to the other hoping that something didn't go wrong. His hopes seemed to go south as soon as Zabuza opened his mouth.

"So how did you idiots at Konoha manage to kidnap a Uzumaki?" That statement alone seemed to set the Konoha-nin off.

"You think we would stoop so low as to kidnap?" Kakashi asked his voice dangerously cold.

"Yes I do, the Uzumaki's Kekkei Genkai was very powerful. The world knows Konoha is bloodline crazy. It wouldn't surprise anyone if they found out that you kidnapped others and forced them into your village to form several of the clans you have." Zabuza stated coldly.

"Your wrong, Konoha would never do that." Sakura tried to say in a brave voice, yet all she could manage was a weak sounding one.

"Oh I'm wrong am I? Well I could very well be, but ask yourself this, would Kumo hesitate to kidnap a main branch Hyuga, would Iwa pass up the chance to kidnap the last Uchiha, would Suna say no to a Senju being thrown into there village? All the other villages out there would love nothing more than to bolster their forces with bloodline shinobi. So why would Konoha be any different." Zabuza rebutted coldly. He was quite shocked when the reply came not from one of the ones in front of him, but from the doorway instead.

"Because, the Hokage would never agree to it. Jii-san would be disgusted if anyone tried to do that." Naruto stated from the doorway shocking everyone present with the fact that he was upright. He stood in just his shredded pants; no shirt could have been put on to fit over the wings, which were currently curled up against his back, yet still they could be plainly seen to all who looked. His monochromatic eyes gazed coldly at Zabuza.

"So you have that much faith in your leader hmm, how could you when you've had such a hard life?" Zabuza asked.

"And how would you know what my life was like teme?" Naruto growled, lightning arcing around his eyes.

"Your wings and eyes. The bloodline you find your self in possession of is both a manifestation of your elemental affinity as well as your soul, the darker the color the harder the life. For your wings to be darker than this brats eyes, your life must have been shit." Zabuza stated calmly as he pointed at Sasuke, indicating what he meant.

"So that coloration is not natural?" Kakashi asked in shock.

"Not at all, the Uzumaki with wings I saw usually had gray to white wings. So tell me punk why so much faith in the teme you call grandfather if he couldn't even keep your life from being hell?"

"He's no teme! He's the one of the few people who actually treated me like a human." Naruto growled.

"Naruto what do you mean by that?" Sakura asked confused.

"That people have a habit of being cruel to Naruto. They blame him for something he had no say in, because of that he's had a very hard life." Kakashi answered before him.

"So what happened, his mother kill a bunch of people when you kidnapped her?" Kakashi asked bemused.

"Would you shut-up, Kushina came to us of her own will!" Kakashi finally snapped only realizing what he'd said after he said it. The reaction from Naruto was much to be expected for his slip.

"You knew my mother?" He glared angrily.

"Well you see-" He began only to be cut off when Killer Intent flooded the room and a blade was leveled into his face, the blade was different than the huge Kubikiri Hōchō, which Zabuza usually wielded. This blade was an elegantly grafted Katana made with what looked like red-steel. The guard was four sets of crimson angle wings, and the handle had what looked like a serpents tail wrapped around it. The blade itself looked old and out of use, yet it had the look of being well used before it fell into disuse. Why Zabuza would pull this old blade out at the name of Naruto's mother confused him.

"Tell me again, the name of this brats mother." Zabuza demanded, murderous intent clear in his eyes.

"Uzumaki Kushina." He said back.

"How in the nine-hells did sensei let herself be captured by you chicken shits?" Zabuza asked malice dripping in his voice. Kakashi's eye visibly rose at the revelation that Kushina was Zabuza's sensei. Everyone had known that she was from Kiri originally and that she had escaped shortly before the bloodline purges started. But for her to have been the sensei to one of the most vicious shinobi in modern times was a big shock. She had always been a kind soul with a flare for practical jokes.

"Wait my mom was you Jonin sensei? What the hell! Someone give me some fucking answers here!" Naruto demanded as the revelations kept coming. He may not have been the brightest tool in the shed, but he knew that if his sensei knew who his mother was then he knew who his father was, and that would mean that the Jii-san knew as well, which meant that he'd been lied to for years.

"Your mom was the only sensei who took me as a student after the incident at the academy. She wasn't like everyone else, most other sensei praised me for my viciousness, even if they were afraid of me, not her though. The first thing she did when I was declared her apprentice was beat the all-living shit out of me for what I'd done. She was from the generation right before the blood tournaments began and had a higher appreciation for teamwork. She pointed to the seven swordsman of the mist as an example. While one alone was effective and deadly all seven of them together could overthrow the village. Hell it was because of her that I was inspired to insight the rebellion." Zabuza laughed.

"If she was such a great kunoichi why did she leave Kiri?" Sasuke asked curious of this woman that the story told about.

"Because she was an Uzumaki, a holder of the eremento reikon. When the purges started they and the Kaguya were the first targeted. She left before anyone could get to her." He answered. As Zabuza explained his past with Naruto's mother he had slowly but surly lowered the crimson blade from Kakashi's throat so now it was by his side instead. Kakashi seeing this realized that this would be the best time to explain how he knew Naruto's wayward mother.

"Now that I don't have a sword pointed at me I think you should know that Kushina came to us on her own free will, we had no idea she was a holder of a bloodline. We thought that it was coincidence that she had that name, seeing as she showed no sings of having the bloodline traits."

"You would swear to that?" Zabuza asked in a glare.

"Yes I swear on my eye that she came to us willingly." Kakashi said in a cool even voice.

"That is a good enough oath for me, just know I'll hold you to it." Zabuza said with a nod.

"So Kakashi how did you know Naruto's mother, and how could Konoha not realize she had a bloodline if it made her look anything like Naruto?" Sakura asked, her curiosity finally winning out over her fear of the demon of the mist.

"Yeah I'd like to know that too, and why you and jii-san never told me about her?" Naruto added with a glare.

"One, I knew her because I was friends with Naruto's father when they met, and before you ask Naruto. No I can't tell you who he was. He had too many enemies that would try to kill you. Since he died in the Kyuubi attack they would use you for vicarious vengeance if it got out that you were his son. As for your second question Sakura she didn't have any traits. Her eyes were an uncommon yet still normal violet. She had no wings either. She looked like a normal woman." Kakashi answered, Zabuza snorted at the description.

"One her eyes were normal because she wasn't a lightning type. Second she had no extra ordinary features because of this." He said as he held up the sword.

"What's that sword have to do with my Kaa-san?" Naruto asked curiously.

"The Uzumaki were an odd sort with there own traditions. One of them was their Kokoroken's (Heart Sword). When an Uzumaki's bloodline activated they would gather immediate family to forge their blades. These blades were forged special from a chakra steel reservoir that the Uzumaki were just lucky enough to build their home over. The blade was made even more special by the way they tempered it. Each family member would donate a pint of blood with the person the blade was forged for donating two. The blade was then tempered in that blood giving it the red hue. This special process made the sword stand for the individual Uzumaki it was crafted for. It was their heart and pride as an Uzumaki, if they gave up the sword it was like giving up their family. If one were to do that they would have to give up their Kekkei Genkai. She gave her sword to me before she left knowing that if she kept it, and by extension her features, the Oinin would track her to the gates of hell. After giving me the sword it was demanded that she loose her wings and tail." Zabuza answered.

"Wait, tail?" Sasuke asked in confusion.

"Yes a tail. It came from her water affinity. Let me back up a bit. Most Uzumaki are dual natured because of the constant influx of different chakra types into their family. Even people from elemental bloodline families mixed with them. But the result was most Uzumaki had two out of five common features. Wings for wind, the same kind of eyes as the gaki for lightning, a finned tail for water, flames at the tips of their finger and toes instead of calcium for fire, and scaled skin for earth. Kushina was a wind water type. Now each trait offered different benefits. Wings are kind of obvious, For the flaming nails an Uzumaki could channel their chakra to their hands and the fire would expand to cover their hands. If they punched you like that it was similar to being hit by a low powered explosive note. Now for the tail it better let them swim and infiltrate places by water. The scales of an earth alignment aloud for tougher skin making them harder to kill. Finally those with lightning affinities were able to sense electric currents, not only that but their own natural electrical field was more active. Understand?" Zabuza explained earning a nod from all present.

"So she gave you her sword and had her tail and wings removed, forcibly and by point of a sword I expect?" Kakashi asked going back to the original topic. This earned a nod from the nukenin.

"That's right, after that I have no idea were she went. But if this brat here is her kid that would mean she wandered into Konoha and something or someone caught her interest." Zabuza said in almost a questioning manner.

"She said that she smelled ramen." Kakashi replied causing Zabuza to laugh out loud.

"Ramen. I should have known. The Uzumaki could eat their weight in ramen and never gain a pound. I take it this gaki inherited that as well?" Zabuza laughed out.

"He eats the noodles for every meal." Sakura said in disgust.

"Hey don't disrespect the ramen. It's the food of kami." Naruto spat back, causing Zabuza to roar with laughter. It was quite disturbing really to watch a man they all knew could kill them without hesitation, and quite easily at that, laugh as if he was a child being tickled.

"Defiantly her kid." He finally gasped.

Hours later found Naruto sitting on the roof deep in thought. He was trying to think of anything else than what had happened on the bridge. Yet try as he might to force the train of thought to all that he had learned about his mother, his mind kept returning to the same place. He had killed a man, albeit a very evil little troll of a man, yet that did nothing to ease the guilt he felt in his soul. This guilt was made even worse when he remembered the lightning that had followed him and killed a significant portion of the bandits.

Zabuza found him sitting there deep in thought. It took him a moment to truly recognize the blond. The loud short little kid in a bright orange jumpsuit still burned in his head made it difficult to realize that the boy wearing a tight crimson shirt with no back and black pants was the same person. This young man in front of him was depressed and sinking deeper into it. Haku had been the same way after his first kill.

"Hey kid." Zabuza called out feeling slightly awkward, while he was good at reading emotions of others, handling them was a different matter altogether.

"Oh hey aniki, what do you want?" Naruto asked causing the skin were Zabuza's eyebrows should have been to rise.

"Aniki?"

"Well you were pretty close to Kaa-san so that sort of makes you like a big brother I guess." Naruto answered with a smile.

"You Uzumaki were always weird when it came to naming things." Zabuza muttered. "Look kid I can guess what you're thinking about. Truth is you killed the little fucker and a whole bunch of other people. They're gone and nothing you do will ever bring them back, so why bother crying about it."

"Your not good with the whole comforting people thing are you?" Naruto asked after a few moments of silence.

"Not one bit. All I can say was that Gato was scum and will not be missed. Though that's not saying much since I myself am considered scum and wont be missed when I pass. Your mom would go on and on about some such moral bullshit and try to make you feel better, but that's all I can give you." Zabuza replied.

"It's better than nothing I guess." Naruto replied as he went back to looking at the starts, every now and than he would be distracted by something.

"Having trouble blocking out the currents?" Zabuza asked.

"Yeah, can't seem to find one thing that doesn't have one, sept for rocks." Naruto smiled back.

"Your uncle used to complain to no end about the currents." Zabuza smiled recalling the man.

"You knew more people than just my mom?" Naruto asked his eyes widening.

"I knew many Uzumaki, but your mom's immediate family I knew closest. Kushina took me under her wing and trained me the best she could. She did her damn best to save me from my own inner darkness. Uzumaki were crazy like that." Zabuza said as he sat down.

"What do you mean by that?" Naruto asked confused.

"Your family had the annoying habit of always trying to find a persons inner light and lead them back onto the path. Hell it was one of the reasons they didn't immediately incite a war when the blood sport exams started. They thought they could change the Mizukage." Zabuza explained.

"Wow, were they any good at it?" Naruto asked with a smile.

"Look at me and ask that question again." Zabuza growled.

Naruto looked at the man. He looked as much as he could, trying to see something. He knew that his mother had seen something worth saving in this man, this supposed demon. What was it she had seen in such a man, he wondered. Quickly he began to go over all he knew about the man. He wanted to over throw the current Kage of Kiri. Bad in most cases, but considering that he was a man who initiated the bloodline purges and forced academy students to kill one another it wasn't that much of an evil. He wanted to kill them up until recently, but he had stopped because the money disappeared. Yet the clincher was that he had taken in Haku, someone just like him, a refuse of society. Someone unwanted and unloved. Even if the demon of a man denied it, he cared for Haku.

"Yeah. Guess they were, after all your nothing but a big softy aniki." Naruto said with a smile, this of course resulted in him being punched upside the head. "Ow, what was that for?"

"God damn Uzumaki and there stubborn habits." Zabuza said as he began to walk off, leaving Naruto alone sitting on the roof.

Naruto was confused about what had just happened. He reviewed it all and saw no real reason why he should have been harmed. But then again he never was the sharpest. It was a miracle it had taken so little time to come to his conclusion about Zabuza. As he continued contemplating what happened he never noticed Zabuza pausing, as he was about to leave the roof.

"Hey gaki!" Zabuza called as he turned around for one last thing.

"Eh, what do you want now?" Naruto asked.

"Catch." The demon of the mist answered as he tossed the red blade that had belonged to Kushina towards Naruto. The blade traveled at a moderate pace towards Naruto. Fast enough to make catching it properly difficult, but not fast enough to make it impossible. It was a test mostly by Zabuza to see if he truly could wield Kushina's blade.

Naruto caught the sheathed blade deftly right before the guard before twirling it upwards and holding the blade like it was meant to be. For reasons he could not explain the sword felt right in his hands, as if it were his.

"Take care of that kid. It's one of the last things in this world of Kushina-sensei's. But seeing as you're probably the last Uzumaki in the world, and her kid to boot I think that blade would be best wielded in your hands." Zabuza said as he saw the young man grip the sword properly, if the kid could get some actual training in he could probably learn how to use that blade with deadly precision.

"Arigato aniki!" Naruto yelled happily while he contemplated how he could learn to use the thing.

"Just don't make me regret handing it to you." Zabuza said as he walked into the house, he however had no idea how giving the brat a shiny new toy like a sword could go horribly wrong. Which considering that Naruto's personality was almost a carbon copy of every Uzumaki he'd ever met was fairly stupid of him.

The next morning as the Konoha-nin were preparing to head to the bridge to help repair the damage their fight had wrought on it Kakashi noticed the absence of a certain blue-eyed blond. He glanced in the room he had been sharing with the other genin. He was startled to see no signs of the blond being in that night.

"Has anyone seen Naruto this morning?" Kakashi asked dreading the answer.

"No, I don't think I saw him go to bed last night." Sakura answered as she thought back to last night.

"The dobe never came in last night." Saskue sated calmly.

"Well that's not good, he could be anywhere by now with that bloodline of his. Keep your eyes on the sky." Kakashi ordered.

"What's all the ruckus about?" the voice of Zabuza asked from the doorway.

"Naruto has disappeared." Kakashi answered quickly, hoping that maybe this man could offer his unique skills in handling Uzumaki to hunt down the young ball of energy that made a humming bird on crack look calm.

"Well that's not a good sign. You should keep better track of you runts." The other man said condescendingly.

"Look, I don't have time for this, have you seen him or not?" Kakashi growled.

"Last time I saw him was sometime last night when I gave him sensei's sword." Zabuza answered.

"You gave him a sword?" Kakashi asked suddenly.

"Yes, why? It is his by right." Zabuza rebutted.

"That may be true, but you gave him a sword. You gave a learn-it-yourself idiot like Naruto a sharp implement of death." Kakashi said back worry creeping into his voice.

"So, its not like he's going to stab himself or cut his own head off." Zabuza said.

"Did you at all remember that he knows the Kage Bunshin jutsu?" Kakashi asked desperately.

The news suddenly hit Zabuza like a ton of bricks. His thought process shut everything down except how an idiot with a sword and kage Bunshin's could kill himself. It went from bad to worse when he remembered the kind of ridiculous training Kushina used to put herself through. Honestly who practiced sword kata's upside-down over a pit filled with rabid howler monkeys (The only known monkeys that actually fling excrement) while blindfolded with weights on their entire body? Any Uzumaki that you suggested the idea to, that's who.

"Well then maybe we should be talking less and searching more." He said a s he took of into the forest to look for the idiotic blond.

Despite the combined efforts of both Kakashi's summons, the kiri-nin's tracking skills, and the combined efforts of the entire village and the genin. Not a single person could find hide nor feather of the missing genin. It was sunset when the search was called off and the two, shinobi teams had retired to the home of Tazuna. Kakashi was stressed so much that his hair color started to make more sense to those present, at the disappearance of the blond. Sakura looked worried at her teammates disappearance. Haku, Sasuke, and Zabuza were doing their best to show no emotion about the disappearance.

"How the hell is it this hard to find a loud mouthed blond with a twenty four foot wing span?" Sakura finally snapped.

"Well Naruto has always been good at not being found when he didn't want to be. He was once even his own D-rank mission to find him." Kakashi answered in an attempt to be calm.

"Wow, he had his own capture mission, wish we could do that instead of try for tora. It'd probably be ten times easier." Sakura said while imagining her self easily capturing the young blond and Sasuke praising her for her skill.

"Actually after he entered the academy and started to learn how to make traps the mission was eventually upgraded to low B-rank." Kakashi said crushing the fantasy in an instant.

"Catching the dobe was a B-rank mission, that seems highly unlikely." Sasuke said impassively.

"You say that even though you have searched for him for an entire day and haven't even found a clue about the whereabouts of a loud blond midget." Zabuza said with a sigh.

"Well what do you suggest I do to try and find him then?" Sasuke asked annoyed.

"You could try praying." Zabuza said sarcastically. He was however completely floored when the pink haired one actually got up to do just that.

"Oh merciful Kami, please return the baka in relative safety so that Sasuke-kun can be at peace." If that hadn't floored him then the loud human squawk and splash that was heard outside would have. Quickly they rushed to the door and looked into the pond next to the house. There was a battered, scraped, shredded, and tired Naruto climbing out of the water. The sword was in his hand as he rose from the water. What also scared Kakashi was that he had what looked like rocks crudely tied to his legs and.

"Naruto! Where the hell have you been!" Sakura demanded.

"Training." Was his tired reply as he walked into the house and sat down at the table.

"Training, training how?" Zabuza asked.

"Well first I just swung the sword around a bit trying to imagine people fighting me. But then I remembered that I got get actual people to fight me at my skill level with the Kage Bunshin. At first I only fought one at a time but that to be to little since they always dispelled real quickly. After fighting five at once got to be too little I remembered this really strange guy I saw back at Konoha running through the streets carrying rocks. So I tied some rocks to my chest and legs and stared fighting the clones again. After awhile the clones I was fighting started to dive bomb me so I started to fight them in the air." Naruto explained in between bites of food.

"How long ago was it that you started?" Kakashi asked.

"When Aniki gave me moms sword."

"Which was last night, so you've been training since then. Naruto you are aware that we have to help repair the bridge you damaged right? Next time you decide to train at least send us a clone to tell us about it." Kakashi said with a sigh.

"Okay, sorry Kakashi-sensei." Naruto said sheepishly.

"Good, just wait till you have someone who actually knows how to use a sword before you go off trying to learn how to use yours." Kakashi replied hoping that would keep him from running off again.

"Do you know how to use a sword Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked hopefully destroying the small hope.

"Well, not very well." He said trying still to deter Naruto.

"Well how about you Aniki? Kaa-san taught you how to use your sword so can you teach me?" Naruto asked while looking hopefully at Zabuza. A strange thing to see with his eyes the way they were.

"Well you see," Zabuza started hoping he could blow the kid off. It was not that he didn't like the boy, anyone who could cause as much destruction as he had earned his respect. He just didn't plan to get tied down to anyone when he still had his dream. His plans for dissuading the young blond only grew further and further away, as the endless blue eyes seemed to grow wider and wider. '_I shall not fall for the puppy eyes, I shall not fall for the puppy eyes, I shall not- oh damn it!'_ "Fine kid you win. I'll go see if I have any Kenjutsu scrolls. Hell I might even teach you a few things myself. But it's only for this week. After that we part ways. Got it?" Zabuza relented as he got up to look through his scrolls on Kenjutsu.

Naruto nodded his head rapidly and happily at the answer. He'd finally get some real training in besides the tree climbing. Team exercises were all very well but he'd be damned if he let Sasuke out do him in anything.

"Naruto-kun, are you sure you wish to train under Zabuza-sama?" Haku asked in shock.

"Yeah, why? Its not like I get much training in other wise unless I attempt it myself." Naruto said with a smile.

"Oh, it's just that Zabuza doesn't know the word restraint very well. He might make things more difficult than they need to be. Especially if you are his sensei's child." Haku said with a shudder as he remembered his own training.

"How bad could it be?" Naruto said with a smile.

"Kid you're in luck." Zabuza said as he came back into the den. He had four scrolls with him as well as the Kubikiri Hōchō strapped to his back. "I'd forgotten Sensei gave me these with her sword." He said with a smile that made most of them cringe.

"What are they?" Naruto asked curiosity clear in his eyes.

"Clan scrolls for wind and water style Tai, and Kenjutsu." He said with a smile.

"But I'm not a water type." Naruto said dumbly as he stared at the scrolls.

"True, but you do plan on having kids, correct?"

"Well…" Nartuo said with a blush.

"Good, cause there yours now. Now it's time to learn. See you all in a week." Zabuza said as he grabbed Naruto and dragged him into the woods.

"Why do I feel as if I should have stopped that?" Kakashi asked as he read his book.

One week had passed before they returned. Zabuza looked the same except for a grin plastered on his face. Naruto still had on the crimson shirt with no back as well as the pair of black pants that Kakshi had shortened for him. Yet he had also added a pair of sleeves to the out fit, they were the kind that samurai wore under their armor, just a pair of sleeves that attached themselves to him by strings in the back. They were black with orange tiger stripes. What disturbed Kakshi even more was the addition of face wraps hiding his lower face. He just hoped the blond didn't take too much after the man after just a week.

"Kakashi, you are an idiot." Was the first thing he heard from Zabuza upon there return.

"Huh?" He asked in confusion.

"This kid tells me that all you focus on is team work. Now while I admit that I like the idea, you are spending next to no time on working on their actual skills and fixing there bad habits. This kid here had no Taijutsu to speak of, even though with proper training he turned out to be a natural prodigy in both that and Kenjutsu. Not only that he's a hard worker who won't stop until you knock him out." Zabuza explained.

"The dobe's a prodigy?" Sakura asked in shock.

"Hn"

"Took to it like a hawk to the sky. But he still needs a hell of a lot of work to get over his bad habits. Not to mention get to the level of skill needed to make Hokage."

"Ah aniki, don't say that." Naruto pouted.

"You're still a loudmouthed, softhearted idiot." Zabuza said back. "Now back to you being an idiot." He said pointing at Kakashi. "Not only to you have to fix his aforementioned problems. You have that kid." He said while turning to Sasuke. "Who while skilled is an egotistical emo with an avenger complex." He said to Sasuke's chagrin.

"Hey don't insult Saskue like that." Sakura said angrily.

"And her she's the worst among your three. No skills outside of academy basics. To top it off she's an over obsessive fan-girl. You Kakashi need to get off your ass and train them hard and not cater to their problems." Zabuza stated as if it was the most logical thing in the world.

"And how am I supposed to make them into a team?" Kakashi glared angrily.

"Make them live together. It did wonders for my teamwork with the other swordsmen. Punish them when they get out of line, and train them into the ground." Zabuza said solemnly. There was silence as Kakashi thought it over. He could actually see what he was talking about. They needed to break certain habits and work as a team. Sure they had worked and gotten stronger here. But it wasn't enough.

"I think I'll do that." Kakashi said with a smile.

"What? You can't be serious sensei?" Sakura asked in shock.

"Sakura, while it pains me to say this he is right. You need training, and you also need to stop pretending. You saw what Naruto did last week. He killed seventy people. You will be expected to do the same. Sometimes it won't always be so cut and dry as their life or yours. Sometimes you take the lives in cold-blood. That is our lives as shinobi." He said coldly.

"Zabuza thank you for your services in looking after one of my students. I shall take what you've said to heart and begin training my students to the fullest of their potential so that future problems may be adverted." Kakashi said seriously.

"No need to thank me. I only told you this so that the gaki doesn't get killed. If he did I'd hunt you down and kill you over the course of a week for failing my sensei's child." Zabuza said coldly.

"Understood, team seven move out we're headed home."

Yagura was furious. He had tried desperately to destroy the taint that were the bloodlines. They were unnatural abominations, demons worse than he was, yet some how one had been able to escape. As the Mizukage it was his duty to protect his people from these abominations, and still one had been aloud to breed. Making more of its kind.

He stared at the picture of the Kuro-Tenshi. It had been little more than a week since he had added the boy to his bingo book as a C-ranked shinobi. The last Uzumaki's picture stared back, as if it was smocking him. Glancing down he saw the information and grew even more furious. Zabuza named the boy. Obviously he was the demons apprentice now and must be dealt with as quickly as possible before he could breed and infest the world with his taint.

The Tsuchikage could no believe what he was seeing. It was a little more than three days ago that the new bingo book from Kiri had shown up with new information on ninja. At first there was the usual information on old nukenin. But the page that had information on new shinobi absolutely floored him. There staring back at him was a younger face of the Iero-Senkou (Yellow-Flash). Yet what added more to his shock was that he now possessed a Kekkei Genkai.

The Iero-Senkou was to be fear with no bloodline. His hidden spawn was to be more so feared now that he had been discovered. He could not allow the child to live longer than necessary. Before to long he would have the power to finish what his father started. He had to be eliminated. So with much haste the Kuro-Tenshi was added to their bingo book as a C-Rank shinobi.

The Raikage stared in curiosity at the face in the bingo book. He recognized it instantly as the face of the Iero-Senko. Yet he was able to see past that and more to the bloodline he possessed. Like many others from the older generations he had seen what an Uzumaki was capable of. Their heightened affinities were able to turn many battles against their foes. He also knew the secret of the coloration. For the boy to have wings darker than the Hachibi's ink he was surely mistreated as a child.

This was something he knew he could exploit. For the child to be one of the last of his kind and mistreated as badly as he was it would be a simple matter to convince him to defect. And what better time than to do so during the upcoming Chunin exams in Konoha. Even if he didn't participate they could try to coerce him into joining much easier than if they had to fight him.

"Send me Team 12."

Orochimaru was shocked when he saw the old face of his rival for Hokage listed as a C-rank shinobi. Of course after looking at the face he could notice the discrepancies in the picture. Whisker marks and Hyuga like eyes were a dead give away that it wasn't truly him. As he read more and more about this shinobi however he grew more and more curious. The boy obviously was the Kyuubi brat that he had fought with Danzo over years ago. Yet according to records his family had no bloodline.

Perhaps it is the fabled eremento reikon that Kimimaro talked of. It was supposedly one of the most powerful bloodlines in Kiri before the purges. If he had survived from the Kaguya clan, then perhaps one of the Uzumaki had truly survived and passed along their bloodline. In eager anticipation he went to present the picture to Kimimaro for confirmation.

Sarutobi Hiruzen was having a good day. While he was a bit worried about team seven being over do, he passed it off as Naruto wanting to see more of the outside world. Currently he was taking a break from the dreaded paperwork that all Kage had to deal with. He was instead simply enjoying a little orange book that looked surprisingly similar to one read by a chronically late Jonin. As he was reading he did not expect Ebisu to burst through the door screaming.

"Hokage-sama Have you seen the latest entry in Kiri's bingo book!"

"What, no why?" He said hastily as he hid the book under his desk.

Ebisu wasted no time with words. Instead he pulled out his copy of the newest bingo book and opened it to a marked page and showed it to him. What he saw was shocking enough that it nearly gave him a heart attack. There in just his tattered orange pants was Konoha's #1 most surprising shinobi. This however took the cake on all his little surprises.

"He has a Kekkei Genkai? This is most unprecedented." Sarutobi said as he gazed at the information. _' last wielder of the eremento reikon. This confirms it, Kushina really was from that clan.' _He silently thought as he looked at the photo.

"Do you think that the fox has something to do with this?" Ebisu asked timidly.

"No. You and every other damned fool in this village has nothing to worry about. If I've told you once I've told you a thousand times. The seal is full proof unless he willingly draws from it." Sarutobi replied in anger.

"But-"

"Is it not obvious? His mother obviously possessed the bloodline and simply hid it from us. Perhaps she did not want to be used to recreate her clan here, but the point of the matter is Naruto now posses one of the rarest Kekkei Genkai there is. Not only that but his face will be seen in every major village there is." Sarutobi said to himself more than Ebisu.

"Why is that bad?"

"You and every other villager here truly are blind aren't you?" He asked in a sigh.

"What do you-"

"Just leave Ebisu. Leave me to my growing headache." The hokage ordered as he rubbed the bridge of his nose.

_'Minato what would you do in my position. Your son is most likely going to be forced into the clan restoration act just like Sasuke. What would you do?' _Sarutobi thought as he prepared for the inevitable council meeting that would occur because of the revelation.

Fiori: Huzza I live still to give you all the last announcements. So far the pairing wars go as such

Inuzuka Hana: Four

Mitarashi Anko: Two

Tenten: one

Fiori: These numbers will be taken into account when the final Tally is made in chapter four. So till then vote on the homepage and see who he winds up with. Also Review or I shoot Haku again.

Haku: Please review (says in pain)


	3. Konoha's New Bloodline

Fiori: The next chapter is here, And I would like to take the time to answer a very interesting question that was asked of me. Rin'negan Naruto asked if the eremento reikon would have levels. I'm Happy to say that yes it will, what it is however you shall have to guess. First person to get it right gets to create there own character for the story, a major character at that. As for the thing people have been saying about a Harem, no. Naruto may have multiple girls chasing him but he shall only choose the girl who wins the polls. I am also happy to announce that you have all give enough reviews for me not to shoot Haku.

Haku: Hurray!

Fiori: However you have not given me enough not to shoot Jiraiya.

Jiraiya: Wait what?

*Bang*

Jiraiya: You bastard that was my writing arm!"

Haku" Why do you keep shooting at us?

Fiori: Because the people don't review enough, Now as usual I don't own Naruto otherwise Jashin would not exist to give his minions power.

Hidan: What, No! My god demands sacrifices. (Joins the angry mob)

Fiori: ah fuck

Kuro-Tenshi

Chapter Three: Konoha's New Bloodline.

The return trip from Nami to Konoha was much faster than the trip there. Since before the children had no grasp at the tree climbing and had to protect a civilian. Now however they were able to move at high speeds to return to the village. Yet for one the speed was still not enough.

"You guys are slow." Naruto said as he landed. He instead of jumping from treetop to treetop had been getting his wings used to long distance travel. It was quickly apparent that he was much faster in the air than they were in the trees.

"Well Naruto we don't have wings. So what do you expect?" Kakashi said as he read his book.

"Well isn't it possible for me to carry one of them and you carry the other? We'll get there faster and it'll be good weight training." Naruto smiled through his wraps.

"Naruto why do you want to train with weights?" Kakashi asked, his eyebrow rising.

"Well aniki said that weight training makes you a more effective shinobi. You can hit harder and run faster. Plus they even offer protection while you wear them. If someone hits the arm with the weight in it, it hurts." Naruto explained enthusiastically. Kakashi nodded at the reasoning. He remembered that every time he blocked Gai's kicks at the ankle that the weights added an extra oomph to the kick.

"Naruto as sound as you reasoning is, I don't think Sasuke and Sakura would take kindly to being carried." Kakashi said while Sakura nodded.

"Yeah you baka. Sasuke doesn't need anyone to carry him, he can get there all on his own." She said praising her crush.

"Yeah, but he's _so_ slow." Naruto complained again.

The trip consisted mostly of these kinds of interactions. Naruto would fly through the air heading for home, notice he'd outpaced them, turn back and complain about them being slow. It was highly amusing to Kakashi since he remembered Kushina doing similar things. It was scary to see his sensei's face with Kushina's personality.

After a days worth of travel they had finally arrived within view of the gates to Konoha. The three genin stared nostalgically at the gate. While they had only been gone for a month, it felt like a lifetime to them. So much had changed for them that they could not truly call themselves children anymore. Naruto felt the most changed of them all. Yet he also felt a fair deal of anger.

Kakashi had known who his mother was. For years he had asked the Hokage if he knew who his parents were. Every time he had been told that he did not. Yet Kakashi knew. From what he could infer his father was some sort ninja who had died during the Kyubi attack. He knew that part of the job of the Hokage was to know who his forces were. What was worse was the old man took great pleasure in knowing who everyone was. He _must_ have known who his father was, and thus who his mother was. Naruto broke away from the rest and made haste towards the open gates with renewed vigor as he contemplated this. He was however completely shocked when the two chunin on duty bared his path.

"State your business in Konoha." One of the chunin said as he gazed harshly at Naruto, not even looking at his Headband. Naruto looked back at him and blinked dumbly.

"What are you talking about?" Naruto asked confused at the actions.

"All foreign shinobi are to have passports and proof of their business at the gates of any hidden village they are to enter." One of them said tensely as if expecting an attack of some sort.

"What are you two doing?" Kakashi asked in confusion.

"This shinobi was attempting to enter the village without papers." One of them answered in a relived sigh.

"But he's one of our shinobi." Sakura said in confusion.

"Well I've never seen him before, and I think I'd remember someone with wings." One of the guards said.

"But it's me Naruto, how could you not recognize me?" Naruto whined.

Both guards looked at him in shock. They too were shocked at his appearance. As with Zabuza a loud little midget in a neon-orange jumpsuit was the default image when one thought of Naruto. This young man before them was not in an orange jump suit, and besides the fact that he had a bloodline he was also taller than Naruto. Unknown to the members of team seven who had been with him every day of the slow process of him growing, and thus did not notice the growth. Naruto had grown by at least an inch. Part of it was due to Zabuza ordering him to eat more than just ramen. The other was his increased regiment of training.

"This is Naruto?" They said in union.

"Do I look that different?" Naruto asked in confusion. Both men nodded in shock before looking at Kakashi.

"Is it really him?" Kakashi only nodded in confirmation.

"I think you should-"

"Go see the Hokage, we know and plan on it." Naruto said as he marched past them and towards the tower. All along the way he ignored the curious glances towards him. His mind was focused on just one thing. The old man had one ton of explaining to do. He was so caught up that with it that he almost forgot the members of his team following in his wake.

The Hokage sat behind his desk completely unaware of team sevens return. His mind was else were instead. While it had not occurred yet, he knew that some member of the council would get wind of Naruto's Kekkei Genkai. When that happened he would willingly take on a mountain of paper work rather than hear the civilians whine about how the demon granted him his powers. Then there were the members of the council that would want to breed him, Danzo and his teammates being at the very front of those clamoring for it. He wished that Naruto never gained his Kekkei Genkai. While it may make his life slightly better since Konoha loved having bloodlines, in the end it was more trouble than it was worth.

Naruto wanted a family, that much Sarutobi knew. But to force him with other people who did not love him, and who he did not love in return was not something the young blond wanted. He wanted a true family. One that held love, not one that was based simply on sex so they could recreate a lost bloodline.

It was as he was thinking all of this that the door opened to reveal the very person his mind had been on. The young blond certainly looked different, Sarutobi gazed sadly at the new look Naruto had adorned himself in. Finally reaching his eyes he could not help feel even more saddened in the look he was given. The eyes held a sad question in them, one that spoke of betrayal and grief.

"Hey old man." Naruto said quietly for once.

"Naruto it is good to see you." Sarutobi said heavily. "I trust your team is with you to file a report on your mission?" He asked more from the part of him that was Hokage than the surrogate grandfather.

"We're all here Hokage-sama. The mission was, for lack of better words, fucked up right from the start."

Ten minutes later Kakashi had finished explaining about the seriously misfiled mission they had undertaken. Sarutobi was shocked that it had gone so wrong, from the demon brothers to Momichi. It truly was a fucked up mission, especially for a green genin team. There was also the problem of Naruto learning about his mother, the look he was given earlier made sense now.

"You three may go now." He said as he looked at the genin.

"But Jii-san." Naruto started to protest.

"Naruto I will speak with you later. I am truly sorry you found out about your mother in this way. I'm also sorry for the secrets kept. But I want you to understand that they were for good reason. I hope that you may forgive me for this." He said sadly while looking at his surrogate grandson.

"We'll see Hokage-sama, we'll see." Naruto answered sadly as he turned to exit the room, Sasuke and Sakura following him. It pained him to see Naruto leave like that, especially with the name he was called by. For Naruto to call him that meant that the revelation of the day had left a serious gap in the trust Naruto had once had for him. After the genin had left he turned towards Kakashi, expression serious.

"Kakashi while I congratulate you on the completion of this mission. I would like to ask why you continued it after the demon brothers showed their heads and you learned of Gato?" He asked the younger man in complete seriousness.

"While it was my intention to end the mission, my genin felt that they could handle it." Kakashi answered.

"Did you feel they could handle it?" The Hokage asked.

"I felt that they could survive and become better from the experience." Kakashi answered hesitantly.

"You wished to give them a wake up call. Tried to see if you could force them out of their bad habits and work as a team. An admirable effort seeing as you drew the short straw with them. But there are other ways you could have gone about this differently." Kakashi had the decency to look ashamed at the Hokage summing up his plan.

"I know, but the only other thing is for them all to live under the same roof for a time. With these three, they just might end up killing each other. I thought that this could get them to wake up and work together." Kakashi replied sheepishly.

"I know what you mean, I had the same problem with the Sanin. Not the exact same thing as you have, but very similar. They very well did nearly kill one another when I forced them all under the same roof. But they did come out stronger for it." He smiled guiltily. He fondly remembered the days his team was together, yet those memories were always tainted by Orochimaru's betrayal.

"I guess there's no choice then, we'll need a place to stay for the next few months." Kakashi said with a sigh as he contemplated all the ways this could go wrong.

"It shall be arranged, but there is another matter I must inquire you on." Sarutobi said solemnly.

"You mean me letting slip about Kushina. I won't apologize for it." Kakashi stated simply. Earning a raised eyebrow from the aged Hokage.

"You were given orders long ago not to mention his heritage. Now that you have disobeyed that order, and you are not even willing to apologize for it, you must have a very good reason." Sarutobi said darkly.

"You know as well as I do that we should never have kept his parents secret. His father I can understand. But Kushina had no enemies that we knew of. Hell if he had known who she was he might have taken more pride in himself and worked even harder to match her." Kakashi replied tiredly.

"But she did have enemies, you just stated that Kiri was responsible for destroying his clan. You yourself have dealt with the few refugees that come through Konoha. Even those who left to escape the bloodshed still wish for the death of those with Kekkei Genkai. If the Mizukage finds that one of their own escaped the purges, it will push him to take actions beyond what they already do when they see someone they have no rights over. They have already added him to the bingo books." Sarutobi replied back.

"What?" Kakashi asked with a start. Sarutobi only pulled out a dog-eared bingo book as an answer.

"This is not good." Kakashi said weakly.

"It is what I always worried would happen when we sent him into the field. But there shall be more than just Iwa clamoring for his blood this time. Kiri will doubtlessly try to find some way of discreetly killing him. To make matters worse they will have no compunctions about attacking your team as well. Kiri to destroy one of the last Sharingan users, Iwa to kidnap him, hell both will probably try to kill you first."

"Guess then that I have no time to waste. I really will have to come down hard on them and train them the way Kushina tried to train us that one time Minato couldn't." Kakashi said calmly.

"Isn't that being a tad bit extreme?" Sarutobi asked in shock remembering very well how Kushina liked to train and what became of it.

"No choice, but I'll make sure to water it down just enough so they'll stay sane." Kakashi eye-smiled.

Naruto walked through the village slowly. While he felt betrayed that the Hokage had kept knowledge from him, he could not truly hate the man. He had kept him from going insane for a long time now. He was truly grateful to the older man for what he had done for him. Yet for him to withhold the information on his mother just felt wrong. He could understand from what Kakashi told him that many would try to kill him for who his father was, thus it was a secret. But why was his mother kept secret.

"Oy Naruto." A voice called to him, distracting him from his musing. Turning he saw that the voice belonged to Sasuke.

"What do you want teme?" Naruto asked in a slight growl.

"A match." Was the simple cold response, yet coming from Sasuke it carried more emotion than most could read.

"You want to fight me?" Naruto asked, his tone halfway between confusion and glee.

"Zabuza said you were strong and a natural at Taijutsu. I want to see if that's true, and if it is I want to know why you have never shown any aptitude for it." Sasuke said while looking him dead in the eyes.

"You've got a match then teme, lets go find someplace to fight." Naruto said with a smirk as he changed his direction towards the training fields. Sasuke followed behind, he was growing anxious with anticipation. He had pestered Haku for the entire week about information on the Uzumaki Taijutsu style. He had simply told him that it was almost as unpredictable as they themselves were.

Naruto was near giddy with glee from just the challenge. Ever since he had declared Sasuke to be his rival the conflict had always been rather one sided. Every fight they had was always simple, quick, and ended in Naruto defeat. Yet now he was being acknowledged by Sasuke as a worthy equal, someone worth his time in a fight. He couldn't wait for the ensuing fight.

"Wait what did you say Sakura?" Ino asked in confusion. She and the members of team ten were heading to the Hokage tower to report their success in a D-rank mission when they had run into Sakura. She had a look of confusion and worry on her face, as if something was about to go very wrong. Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji had all stopped to see what the matter was while Asuma entered to give the mission report and collect their pay.

"Sasuke went to challenge Naruto." She repeated.

"Why the heck would Sasuke lower himself to fighting the dobe? Naruto his just so beneath him." Ino asked in confusion.

"Well um, Naruto sort of well..." She started before trailing off not knowing how to actually word it.

"Naruto sort of what?" Ino asked in exasperation.

"" Sakura spat out quickly in a long stream of utter nonsense to all but Ino who was highly familiar with long streams of unintelligent gibberish.

"He's got a bloodline, how, when, Zabuza?" Ino shouted out in shock eyes wide in disbelief.

"Wait what?" Choji asked in confusion.

"Naruto apparently has a bloodline of sorts and a man named Zabuza is somehow involved." Shikamaru answered tiredly.

"Really, what kind of bloodline do you think he has?" Choji asked through a mouthful of chips.

"Don't know, probably something troublesome." He answered.

""During our C-rank mission Naruto's bloodline activated and he was trained by Zabuza for a week in his families Taijutsu style." Sakura answered calmly.

"Why would Zabuza train the dobe in his families style? Surly Sasuke would deserve more merit than him?" Ino asked in confusion.

"No not Zabuza's family, Naruto's family. Naruto's mother was his sensei and she left some of her scroll in his possession when she left." Sakura answered shaking her head.

"So why would this inspire Sasuke to fight him?" Ino asked.

"He only said that he wanted to test something. Then he left to go looking for Naruto." Sakura answered.

"Well then, you shouldn't worry. A week of training can't be enough to actually make Naruto any better. He was the dead-last in the academy." Ino said with confidence.

"I know, but Zabuza said Naruto was a prodigy."

"Right, then why were his grades so bad?" Ino shot back.

"I don't know, but something about this fight has me worried." Sakura answered.

Ino stood there contemplating the information that she had just been told. While she and Sakura may be rivals she would not deny that she still felt some trickle of friendship for the girl. So for something to worry her she could not help but want to put her at ease.

"Well there's nothing for it then, we'll just have to go watch the fight with you." Ino stated matter-o-factly.

"Wait, we?" Shikamaru questioned suddenly.

"Yes we, don't you want to help put Sakura's fears to rest?" Ino asked him angrily.

"No."

"Well then how about seeing what this 'bloodline' Naruto is supposed to have is?" Ino said with air-quotes around bloodline. In truth she didn't think it possible for it to be real. If it were, he would have been better at stuff.

"It'd be to troublesome." He said lazily.

"Look lazy-ass, we're going and that's that." She ordered firmly before marching towards him and grabbing him before turning towards Sakura. "Well, what are you waiting for, you probably know where they'll be better than we do."

"Oh, right." Sakura said sheepishly before turning and heading towards training field seven. Ino, Choji, and the lethargic Shikamaru right behind her.

"Troublesome woman." Shikamaru muttered as he was dragged along for the ride.

Naruto and Sasuke arrived at training field seen shortly after they had run into one another. Both were by this point eagerly anticipating the coming fight. One to prove that he was stronger than the other. The other only wished to prove that they were equals. Sasuke, while he would never openly admit it, was angered when Zabuza chose to train Naruto. While he knew that it was a matter of respect and honor to one long since dead, the matter was that he had been over looked for the dobe. Naruto however felt that this was finally the time were he could prove to Sasuke that he was truly worth to be his rival. What was more if he could win or draw in this fight it would prove that he was not the dead last.

"So how do you want to start this?" Sasuke asked as he slipped in his Sekkendou (Way of the intercepting fist)

"I don't know, why don't you start things off." Naruto quipped as he slid into a stance from Fūken (Wind fist) Through out the week with Zabuza had him work mostly on one kata from each the Tai and Kenjutsu scrolls of the wind style. This was the Yokokaze (Cross winds) his arms were held loosely ready in front of him and his wings were open slightly.

Sasuke studied Naruto before doing anything else. His stance was loose and open to attack. Was it really true that he was a prodigy with such a weak stance? Perhaps Zabuza had been mistaken. Shaking his head slightly he charged, throwing a quick left hook when he came close enough.

Sasuke was openly shocked when the fist was blocked, but not by one of Naruto's hands, it was one of the wings that had blocked his strike. Faster than he believed such a large appendage could move it covered Naruto in a protective half-cocoon, stopping his fist from making contact with the blond. The wing then pushed upwards hitting his arm and forcing him to drop his guard and push him back slightly. That was when Naruto's right fist made contact with his sternum in a hard uppercut that lifted him slightly off his feet. Yet still the blond was not done, the idle wing moved with a quick flourish, creating a small yet powerful gust of wind that pushed Sasuke even further back.

Backing away quickly Sasuke reevaluated the stance Naruto had taken. Now that he looked at it more closely he saw a small inkling of the stances purpose. The wings where to be used as a shield to his attacks and force him out of his guard while the users fists could quickly counter. What was more was the wings also served as a means to attack. The strong winds they pushed outward could prove to be very detrimental to any fighter.

Smiling Sasuke made another charge. Perhaps he had been wrong and the dobe truly was a prodigy.

This was the sight that Sakura and team ten arrived to see. Yet while Sakura knew the winged boy to be Naruto. The others were not able to see any resemblance in him to what he once looked like. Ino found herself glancing between the winged boy and Sasuke. Finally she voiced what was on her mind, as well as that of her teammates.

"Who the hell is the kid with wings, I thought Sasuke was fighting Naruto?" She questioned as the two combatants danced around one another.

"Ino that is Naruto. His bloodline gave him those wings." Sakura answered.

"What!" She hissed in confusion as she looked back. She was not the only one confused by this information. Shikamaru for all his lethargy could not help but grow curious over the sudden transformation of the previously orange wearing blond. While he would admit that he looked far more like a shinobi with out it, it was odd seeing him in something that didn't scream, "hear I am" though the wings did make up for that.

Naruto batted Sasuke aside once again with his wing before lashing out with a punch. The other boy moved quickly to dodge the fist, only to have to dodge a quick strike from one of Naruto's wings. Sasuke stumbled back after dodging, Naruto not wasting any time, quickly pressed his advantage. Lashing out with multiple punches and the occasional wing strike kept Sasuke on his guard.

Quite suddenly Sasuke's fist made contact with Naruto's cheek, sending him reeling backwards. Looking back Naruto could see that Sasuke's eyes were red with a single tome in each eye. Naruto backed away from Sasuke as the ebony haired youth began a barrage of fists and feet, trying to bat aside Naruto' protective wing. Quickly Naruto jumped away with aid from a powerful pump of his wings. Another pump and he was ten feet above Sasuke.

"So you've got the Sharingan too now. Well this'll make for an even better fight." Naruto said, laughter clear in his voice.

"Yeah, guess it will." Sasuke said as he started to go through hand seals. "**Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu. **(Fire Release: Great Fireball)

The giant ball of fire rushed through the air towards Naruto. He barely had time drop from the sky. He skimmed the edge of the fire as he dropped towards Sasuke. Naruto saw him standing ready for him as he dove in for an attack. Throwing a quick left hook followed by a right straight at the Uchiha, Naruto noted that with the Sharingan Sasuke now had a distinct advantage when it came to predicting fists. He wondered if he could do the same for his wings. Quickly Naruto's left wing tip lashed out like a hook, hitting Sasuke in the temple with an audible 'thunk'.

"So you can use your wing for more than just flapping about." Sasuke smile as he backed away.

"Well duh." Naruto said as he cocooned both wings in frond of him to hide the hand seals he ran through. Sasuke was confused as he watched the boy. He wondered what could have made it necessary to cocoon himself in his wings. It wasn't until he noticed the chakra the blond was molding that he realized, but by then it was already too late.

"**Fūton: Daitoppa." **Naruto called, with a flap of his wings a huge gust of wind picked up, tossing Sasuke into a tree as if he was a rag doll.

He had to admit, that was ingeniously clever, using his wings to hide that jutsu. If it weren't for the fact that he could see the chakra being molded he would have thought Naruto to be going on the defensive. He wondered idly where he had learned the jutsu, but quickly wrote it off as something that Zabuza probably taught him.

He charged after Naruto again. Lashing out with a left roundhouse kick, before following it with a mid air side kick. Naruto managed to get his left wing in position to block the first kick, but the second one hit him square in the exposed right shoulder. Staggering back he could barley bring both wings to position to stop the onslaught that Sasuke set at him, trying to press the advantage. Naruto seeing the precarious position he was in formed a familiar cross seal.

"**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" **He called out as a sea of smoke filled the training field. Fifty Naruto's looked at Sasuke with their dark eyes before wordlessly charging.

As the boys battled it out in the training fields, the Hokage had his own battle to fight. Not even two minutes after Kakashi left Danzo had stormed into his office flanked by his old teammates. They had announced that his presence was required at a council meeting immediately. Upon arriving he quickly learned the reason for the meeting. Word had finally gotten out about Naruto's Kekkei Genkai, and the council was having a conniption fit about it. Several were in the opinion that it was the Kyuubi's influence that had granted the blond with his bloodline. Others simply did not care how he got it, only that for once he was actually useful. Several members of the civilian council were actually petitioning their children to be wed to him. Finally Sarutobi had enough of the mindless chatter.

"Enough! I will not have this council bickering about this matter like uneducated academy students. This matter shall be handled calmly or not at all." He ordered while releasing the barest minimum of KI.

"Very well Hokage-dono. The council is called because of the matter of one Uzumaki Naruto. I speak for all when I ask why did you keep it a secret that he had a bloodline?" Yamanka Inoichi asked calmly.

"I did not keep it secret, for I cannot lie about matters I have no knowledge in." Sarutobi answered.

"So you had no notion that the boy was carrying one. I find it frightening how lax you are with records." Danzo said with just a hint of loathing.

"It is no fault of mine, neither his father nor his mother were recorded to have one." Sarutobi answered sharply.

"You see it has to be the Kyuubi. He has granted the boy this power so that he may better slit our throats when the time comes." Raved a frantic merchant.

"You would doubt the Yondaime Hokage's seal work. The Kyuubi has no influence over the boy unless he willingly draws from it. This Kekkei Genkai is completely natural." Sarutobi growled back.

"But how can you be sure? You your self told us that neither parent had a Kekkei Genkai." Nara Shikaku asked lazily.

"While it was true that neither of their records stated it, I have recently come across some information from a very reliable source." He rebutted.

"Oh, and what would that be?" Asked Hyuga Haishi.

"During the mission to Nami where his Kekkei Genkai awoke, team seven made contact with the nukenin Momichi Zabuza and his apprentice. According to him this bloodline is called the eremento reikon. The Kekkei Genkai allows for physical traits to develop depending on elemental affinities. It is a trait passed along the line of Uzumaki's and was once the most powerful bloodline in all of Kiri." He explained.

"So it was from her then was it?" Inuzuka Tsume asked, confusing the civilian council to no end.

"Yes, it was from her, I postulate that she hid it so that she would not be used as simple breeding stock as some of you now plan to use Naruto as."

"Then how did she hide it? Fuinjutsu?" Hiashi asked.

"No she had her traits forcibly removed to escape the bloodline purges. Leaving both her sword and clan scrolls in possession of her former student Zabuza. Both the sword and the scrolls are now in Naruto's possession." He explained.

"How many scrolls in total?" Danzo asked hungrily.

"Four main scrolls that are expected to hold more scrolls within. The scrolls explain his families Ken and Taijutsu styles. And no I shall not ask for them, they are his and we have no right to deny someone their family belongings." He answered coldly.

"But the demon could use them too-"

"You shall shut-up now if you know what's good for you!" Growled Tsume.

"Thank you Tsume, now then the matter of where the bloodline came from is resolved. Are there any other matters that need addressing?" Sarutobi asked.

"I move that the Uzumaki be placed in the Clan restoration act." An aging man motioned while thinking of his granddaughter.

"I shall not allow it!" Surprisingly it was not the Hokage who spoke. It was instead a man named Haruno Rio. "The demon doesn't even deserve to have the gift its host was born with, let alone clan status!" He yelled angrily.

"You shall be silent civilian!" Tsume growled menacingly while releasing a minute amount of KI.

"Why can you not see what it plans to do? The demon is using its host's family to multiply. If we allow it to breed we'll be over run by demon spawn in a matter of months." He cried desperately, while images flashed through his head. The fox bearing down on the village, his wife committing suicide to escape the force of its killer intent, his brothers mangled body being brought in from the field, and worst of all the agonizing minute when his daughter had stopped breathing. If not for Konoha's talented medics she would have died. He could not let the fox take even more from him.

"I said be silent!" Tsume growled as she stood from her seat and made to attack him.

"Both of you settle down now!" The Hokage ordered harshly. Both Tsume and Rio looked at him in fear. "I said at the start we would be civilized about this. If you cannot abide by this rule then you shall be removed from this room." He continued.

"But the-"

"Haruno I understand your fears, but as I have told you before. Uzumaki Naruto is not the demon. If he were he would have destroyed this city long ago." He said cutting the man off.

"The demon is just lulling us into a false sense of security." Rio argued desperately, fear completely clear for all to see in his eyes.

"Oh, and why would it do that? If that was the way the demon operated the surely it would have been more subtle when it tried to attack our village. The Kyuubi revels in destruction and chaos, it desires for battle. Previous attacks on other villages have shown us this. For it to do what you are suggesting goes against the beasts very nature." The Hokage said slightly patronizing.

"But-"

"Haruno, your own daughter has been on a team with the boy you are damning for the past two months. Have you ever asked her about him? If you had she would not describe a vicious monster. She would paint him as an annoying young man with an abundance of energy." He said again trying to calm the man enough so that matters could be addressed. Though at a moment like this he was actually happy for some of the villager's hatred. It could just mean that Naruto wouldn't be used as breeding stock if the council tried to overrule his decision.

"Now I believe we had a matter to discuss. One of you moved to try and place Naruto in the clan restoration act. I'm inclined to agree with Haruno however. I do not want the boy used just to bolster our forces." He said as he returned to the topic at hand. At his word several of the villagers, whose hatred of the Kyuubi ran deep, smiled in slight success.

"I find your decision to be a foolish one. The boy is a shinobi, and as such nothing more than a tool now. If we could make more tools like him there can be no harm." Danzo argued.

"Be that as it may I am Hokage, and I don't want the boy used in such a manner." Sarutobi shot back.

"Then we are at an impasse, I say we take the matter to a vote. All in favor of adding the boy to the clan restoration act." Danzo said as he raised his hand, he was followed by Sarutobi's old teammates. Three of the seven civilians voted in favor and two of the Shinobi clan heads voted for it, one was Hiashi the other was Aburame Shibi. "All against adding him." Danzo sneered. Sarutboi raised his hand and was followed by the remaining four civilians and the rest of the present clan heads.

"Nine votes against and eight for, it looks like he shall not be added to the act Danzo." Sarutobi smiled while thanking Kami for his daughter Sarutobi Rika (OC). As Hokage he could not act as the head of his clan for the fear that he would favor them and only them. It had been that way with his predecessors. But his daughter could. She was a kind young woman and the youngest of his children. She had always been close to Naruto and had hated how the village treated him, but as was the same with him she could not openly act, else she lose favor amongst the rest of the village. But in a matter such as this she could act to prevent the boy further heartache.

"You would deny this village the powers of his clan?" Danzo accused, Sarutobi merely smiled and shook his head.

"You misunderstand Danzo. I would welcome it if Naruto had a family of his own and provided us with many children. But it shall be by his choice. I shall force him into nothing." He said with a sense of finality.

"Your attachment to it has clouded your judgment."

"Say what you will, but this matter is done. Now are there any other matters that need to be discussed?" Sarutobi asked.

As Sarutobi protected Naruto future, the boy in question fought a battle that to genin would be considered epic. For half an hour he and Sasuke had been locked in a heated match. It appeared that even the Sharingan had trouble predicting the movements of the Fūken. They couldn't read how his wings moved, and they could just barely predict how they would react.

What made it worse for Sasuke was the constant drain they had on his reserves. While he needed it just to keep up with Naruto's movements, the boy in question was attacking from all angles. Worse still it was only five minutes ago that the faintest outline of sweat had started to form on the blond youth.

Sasuke dove to the side to avoid an aerial roundhouse combo as he had started calling them. He had dodged the opening punch aimed at his face, only to come face to face with yet another Naruto who gladly through the same move. It was followed quickly by an uppercut to his sternum. Next came the dread knee to the chin, it was made even worse by the upward momentum Naruto gained from a flap of his wings. The force of the blow sent him airborne. Naruto quickly followed him up and delivered a sharp kick to his back, sending him up to meet the downward hammer blow from Naruto. Finally another kick sent him upwards before being smacked downwards by a twirling Naruto's wing.

It was the fourth time Naruto had used this particular combo. But the first time it had actually been used on him. The other three times he had barely managed to pull a **Henged Kamiwara **off to save himself. The first time was as he was about to be kicked into the air, the second was right before the kick hit him in the back. The last time was right before the hammer blow. Now however he experienced the full force of Naruto's aerial roundhouse combo. What made the pain even worse was the contact with the ground.

Naruto landed right beside the crater as Sasuke slowly rose. Sasuke glare heatedly at Naruto's form, yet he could not help the slight smile tugging at his lips. Finally he had found someone in this village of fools who could actually push him to the limits of his ability. He'd fight this foe until he could surpass them in strength, then he'd be just one step closer to him.

"You still alive teme?" Naruto questioned as Sasuke slumped forward slightly.

"Hn" he grunted from the hole.

"Come on surly you have more energy than that?" Naruto said eagerly, as he bounced on the balls of his feet.

"You'd have to knock me out, Naruto." Sasuke said as he finally rose to his feet.

"Aw, but then the girls watching us would get mad." He said childishly. The four in the bushes were startled that he knew they were there. He was supposed to be the worst at things like this. But seeing him give the Rookie of the Year a run for his money made Shikamaru think twice about status while in the academy.

"Who cares, this has been the best fight I've ever had. Better even than with Haku. Zabuza really wasn't kidding. You are every much a prodigy as I." Sasuke smiled as he prepared a jutsu. "**Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu." **The fireball rushed towards Naruto at high speed.

As before he jumped above it with a few flaps of his wings. Though this time he came up to see several kunai headed right for him. Moving quickly he countered the throws with several shuriken before flying right at Sasuke. Sasuke in turn jumped directly at Naruto. There was a loud sound of flesh meeting flesh at high speeds before aloud crash sounded throughout the field.

Sakura and Ino looked on in shock at what they were seeing. Shikamaru's left eyebrow rising was the only indication he gave that the out come surprised him. Choji had stopped snacking on his chips to look on in surprise. While the battle before had at least been slightly matched, with Sasuke managing to dish out as much as he was served. For Naruto to win was still a shock.

Naruto was flapping his wings to stay aloft. His right fist extended from the punch he had just thrown. Yet what was odd was the electrical sparks traveling around his fist and around his eyes. Sasuke was on the ground, leaning up against the base of a tree. Several feet above him was a small intent about his size filled with cracks. His left cheek looked slightly burnt and his hair was standing in every which way. His arms and legs twitched every now and then in a distinctly involuntary manner. His eyes were just barely open as he gazed at Naruto.

"You were still holding back, the entire fight?" He asked slightly angry.

"Well, no. I honestly didn't mean to do that. Hell I didn't even know I could do that." Naruto said slightly sheepish.

"You what?" Sasuke said in shock.

"Well you remember aniki saying something about a heightened electrical field. I guess this is what he meant." Naruto said as he landed on the ground.

"A prodigy, yet still a dobe." Sasuke grunted.

"Don't call me that." Naruto said suddenly.

"What, dobe? Sorry but old habits." Sasuke grunted as he began to push himself up.

"Not that, if you stopped calling me that I couldn't call you teme any more." Naruto smiled as he moved to help him up. "Don't call me a prodigy, makes me feel weird." Naruto continued before he called out to the brush. "You four can come out now."

As Sakura and team ten walked into the field Sasuke could not help but wonder why Naruto would not wish to be called a prodigy, a term of respect. Why would he not wish to be a genius?

"Why can't I call you that dobe?" He asked in confusion.

"Because, calling me that, its just weird. It makes it sound like I didn't work for my strength. Zabuza put me through some crazy stuff to help me get stronger." He replied.

"What sort of crazy stuff?" Sasuke asked with morbid curiosity. Naruto shivered slightly before he gave his reply.

"You really don't want to know," he said weakly.

"That bad?" Sasuke asked.

"All I'll say is that I have a new found respect for you with how long you've survived your fans." He replied earning a very strange look from Sasuke.

It was at this moment that Ino and Sakura finally overcame their stupor at what they had seen. Rushing forward they pushed Naruto out of the way before fighting over who got to take care of Sasuke. Sasuke looked as if he'd rather be in the dirt than being 'comforted' by his fans.

"Sasuke are you alright, Naruto didn't hurt you too badly did he?" Sakura cried as she attempted to help him up after knocking away his support.

"Sasuke tell me were it hurts." Ino demanded as she pulled out a roll of bandages.

"Man, am I glad that's not me." Shikamaru muttered as he helped Naruto up.

"Yeah, fans are not fun." Naruto said as he nodded his agreement. This earned shocked looks from both Shikamaru and Choji.

"This from the person who used to wish he had fans?" Choji asked in confusion.

"Uh uh. After Nami I neither want nor need fan girls in my life. They are crazy." He shivered.

"Okay, do I even want to know?" Choji asked. Naruto again shivered at the memory of Zabuza dropping him in the street in just his boxers outside of the newly formed Naruto Fan club in Nami. He called it speed and endurance training. Naruto called it sadism.

"Choji, I think we should drop this." Shikamaru said lazily.

"Yes, I would like that very much." Naruto said enthusiastically.

"So..." Choji said as he tried to find some way to break the awkward silence that had befallen them as they drowned out the chatter of the fan girls trying to 'help' Sasuke.

"For the love of Kami, one of you help me!" Sasuke's voice suddenly broke their stupor. The three boys turned and saw that Sasuke was shirtless and the girls were trying to get his pants off. Both of them had glassy eyes and slight nose bleeds.

"But Sasuke we're only trying to find were your injured so we can bandage it up." Ino said seductively. Bandages over ten feet away from her.

"Yeah Sasuke. We only want to help." Sakura giggled.

"Should we-"

"I'm not touching this." Shikamaru said hastily before Naruto could suggest helping.

"Yeah, um I think I hear my dad calling. Bye." Choji said as he ran off, Shikamaru didn't even bother with more words before he disappeared.

"Great, just me and the rabid fan girls." Naruto said as he looked at the two girls about to molest the weakened Uchiha. "Sasuke you better thank me for this later." Naruto muttered as he went through the seals. It happened faster than Sasuke could actually tell. One moment he was about to be raped by rabid fan girls, the next he was in the brush watching himself break free of Sakura and Ino's clutches before running like hell. He was confused at how it could have happened before he looked at the spot Naruto was, only to see a small pile of wood. Wood very similar to the type he was standing on now. It didn't take him long to actually realize what had happened. Naruto had Kamiwared with the brush were he now stood before henging into him and switching with him. This both prevented them from noticing that they had a fake and hiding him effectively.

"Did he really just do that for me?" He wondered as he went to pick up his shirt.

"Guess I'll have to do something as a thank you." He muttered as he wondered back towards his clan compound.

Naruto was very worried about his situation. He had indeed henged into Sasuke and switched places with him. After all he truly did take Kakashi's words to heart. Those who abandoned their team were worse than trash. So he would take the heat off his teammate. Besides this had the added benefit of getting some good legwork in.

However this time his run from the fan girls was far worse than him running from his own. His fan girls had no ninja training and couldn't use chakra. These girls how ever could. What made it worse was that as he continued running from them more girls joined into the chase. After all he was running around as a shirtless Sasuke. As more girls joined the chase those already in the chase pushed themselves to be the first to catch him. Thus making him push harder to not get caught.

"Shit, shit, shit! Sasuke better find some fantastic way of thanking me for this." Naruto said to himself as he turned down another rode. Only to stop when he saw the mob in front of him. Part of the mob had apparently slipped off and cut ahead of him while the rest remained to chase him down. At the heads of both mobs were Sakura and Ino.

"Come on Sasuke-kun. We just want to help you." Ino cooed.

"Don't need help. Just need an exit." Naruto smiled causing most of the fan girls to faint. After all he was using Sasuke's face and not a single one of them had seen such a heart-warming expression on their broody prince. The gap made by the fainting girl was all Naruto needed to make an attempt at freedom. Desperate for an escape he dashed through, dodging grabby hands and ducking under diving fans. However his escape was cut rather short when he felt a hand grip his ankle, tripping him.

"I got him!" A victorious yell rang out. Instantly the hoard of girls seemed to descend upon him. Naruto instantly realized that he was in more trouble than he had ever been before. None of the girls in Nami had ever been able to catch him, but he got the idea of what they wanted to do. He had no choice but to end the charade.

"Sorry girls got to go." He said with a smile. The girls grew confused as their prince smiled again. A small breeze seemed to go up as they heard an odd swish in the vicinity.

"**Kai!" **Sasuke shouted as his image faded. Instead in his place was someone that only two people truly recognized. Naruto quickly broke from their grasps before twirling around and gazing at them.

"As I said, sorry about all this." He smiled as he jumped to the air with a powerful pump of his wings.

Many girls started in awe of his retreating figure. Some could not truly believe what they had seen. It was as if their prince had evolved and cast of his mortal shell. Transforming into the perfect angle they always knew him to be.

Sakura however was pissed beyond all rational belief. She'd been tricked, Sasuke was within her grasps and Naruto had stolen him away. He must pay! Moving quickly while fueled with rage she grabbed the rock closest to her person before hurling it with as much chakra-laden force that she could muster.

Naruto was ill equipped to deal with the rock flying at him at high-speeds. For one he didn't notice that it was headed directly towards him until it hit him. For another he'd never really had any practice correcting his flight after being hit by something like this. Worse still the rock had hit him fairly hard and caused him to start plummeting earth wards. The only thing he could make out before blacking out was the outline of a girl.

Gaara could not believe how lucky he was. It was only yester day that the man his siblings called father had announced that they were going to be attacking Konoha with the help of Oto during the Chunin exams. What made the news even better was the bingo book he had recently looked at. A genin had made it in as a C-rank shinobi, the Kuro-Tenshi. If he wasn't in the exams he would seek him out, after all what better way to prove his existence than by slaying an angel.

Temari however was worried. While she would go through with the plan she wasn't happy about it. They had an alliance with Konoha and it just seemed wrong to break it so easily. What made it worse was how happy Gaara was with it all. She knew it had something to do with the Kuro-Tenshi she had read about. He was apparently the last of a family of powerful bloodline users. Obviously Gaara would target him before anything else. Though secretly she wished that he would lose if he fought the Kuro-Tenshi. While it was horrible to think, the thing Gaara was becoming was not her otouto, it was a cold-blooded monster.

Team 12 of Kumo was confused about why they would be requested to see the Raikage. While it true that they were an exceptional team let by one of Kumo's elite Jonin Nii Yugito, they had not gone on any missions or done anything note worth of late. All they had done for the past two weeks was train for the upcoming Chunin exams. While it was true that it was over three months away, Yugito was determined to make sure that they not only got to the final round, but that they walked all over everyone.

Yugito too was curious. She wondered what they had done to be called in by her adoptive brother. All she could think of was that he had found out about the time that she had shredded his limited edition volume of Icha Icha. She glanced back at her team, wondering why they were called just to hear him lecture her.

First was a young girl with grey pupil-less eyes and raven black hair done up in dreadlocks. Her skin was dark and she wore a tan shirt with a lightning bolt trim pattern underneath a Green sleeveless vest. Her pants were a standard shinobi black with a kunia pouch at her left. Her hitai-ate was worn around her forehead. Her name was Attsuuten Kagome.

Next was a young man dressed in a dark blue shirt that covered a mesh shirt underneath. His pants were blue with a streak of red on each leg. At his waist were a pair of ninjato. His hitai-ate was worn on his right bicep. His hair was a deep red and was cut short. His eyes were a deep blue color, and his skin tanned. His name was Touken Urufu.

Finally there was Akume Yuri. A girl with green eyes and blond hair much like her own. And much like Yugito's own hair it was long and braided. In fact the girl had copied her entire outfit. If not for the fact that she was very timid, Yugito would have expected her to act almost exactly like herself.

Once Yugito and her team had entered A's office Yugito went straight to business,

"Oi baka, what the hells the idea of calling us away from training. Do you want us to trounce the Konoha teams or not?" She asked disrespectfully.

"Yugi-Chan?" A said with confusion and crocodile tears.

"Sensei, let him say something before belittling him." Kagome scolded.

"Thank you Kagome. Now on to why I called you here, i have a mission for you."

"No." Yugito said quickly.

"But-"

"You said you wanted my team to be the best, so I'm making them the best. Missions can wait until their all chunin." Yugito said.

"Ah, i see were the misunderstanding is. the mission is actually taking place in Konoha during the exams."

"I thought you said we'd stop trying to steal Hyuga after you took over as Raikage? Aren't the results of Kagome's clan good enough?" Yugito asked incredulously.

"I am indeed happy with the Attsuuten (Pressure point) clan. It is truly marvelous what a good Fuinjutsu user can do. The Hyuga were arrogant, the Caged Bird seal of theirs is not as all powerful as they'd like to think. But no you do not go there for a Hyuga. You go there for him." A answered as he pushed a picture towards the team. It was a picture of a boy with eyes darker than the depths of the sea and hair kissed by the sun. Yet stranger still were the ebon touched wings on his back.

"His name is Uzumaki Naruto, nicknamed the Kuro-Tenshi. He his the last of his family and I want you four to try and convince him to defect to our village." A explained.

"And you think he'd actually do that?" Urufu asked.

"There is a high chance that he might. You see his wings are an indication of his past. For them to be as they are means that life has not been kind to him. You should approach him and try to make it seem that we offer a better life for him than his own village." A elaborated.

"And if we can't do that?" Kagome asked.

"While I hate to suggest it, try seduction as well. If that too fails then you may have no choice but to make him come with you." A answered solemnly. "Do you accept the mission?"

"I guess so, I mean how hard can it be to convince one kid to leave a place that treats him like dirt?" Yugito asked with a smile, not knowing how much she would regret asking.

Fiori: Another chapter ends. The plot thickens and Next chapter the poll ends and we all get to see Naruto meeting with the girl who shall win his heart. Lets see so far the tally is

Hana: 20

Anko: 17

Tenten: 9

Fiori: Please keep the votes and the reviews coming. I'd hate to have to shoot some one again.

Haku: Right, look just please review so he doesn't shoot at me again.

Fiori: You shut-up.

Haku: make me.

*Bang* (Haku gets shot in the leg again)

Haku: You bastard.

Fiori: Walk it off wussy.


	4. The Raven, the Hound, and the Angel: P1

Fiori: A new chapter finally ready to be viewed. Like with most of my other stories Kuro-Tenshi suffered a loss because of crappy computers. Also in the semi-good news all of you out there reviewed enough for me not to shoot anyone.

Assembled (Held hostage) cast: Huzzah!

Fiori: And it's really sad too, here I was planning on shooting Orochimaru-teme in the face. I sent out invitations and everything, but no, you all saved him, hope you're happy.

Jiraiya: Wait Orochimaru, why would he come here just to get shot?

Fiori: Well obviously I didn't tell him he was just gonna get shot, I told him there was a bishonen boy with an almost extinct bloodline here.

Haku: Wait bishonen, BLOODLINE?

Orochimaru: Oh my, isn't he ever so pretty, kukukuku.

Haku: No keep him away from me I don't want to be analy-raped!

Fiori: Suck it up wussy (Yes I know I'm utterly evil and that was a tasteless pun) In other news Hana wins. Now on with the show.

Kuro-Tenshi

Chapter Four: The Raven, the Hound, and the Angel: Part one

Inuzuka Hana had finally returned home from what could be considered a complete snafu of a mission. It was supposed to be a simple bandit cleansing, they had no idea that there was a group of trained samurai leading the bandits. It made sense really now that she thought about it, how else could they have been so effective if not for the samurai that led them. They had been too well organized to be just common bandits, not to mention too strong.

Instead of being a simple task of killing a few and rounding up the rest, it had turned into an all out blood bath. Three Chunin and a Jonin had died in the conflict. For an Inuzuka this was considered one of the greatest tragedies that could occur, loosing part of the pack during combat. Even worse still was that Hana had nearly died herself while fighting the lead samurai. The battle had not been a good one her own blade had been completely destroyed by the enemy's blade with just one well-placed swing. If not for the fact that she was a woman and that she had the Inuzuka abilities to fall back on then she might very likely have died. As it was the lead samurai had taken his eyes off of her after sundering her blade, leaving him open for the killing blow.

Though despite the loss of her sword Hana was in an almost pleasant mood. She had managed to find several interesting scrolls in the leaders tent, as well as claim the sword the Bandit leader had been using at the time. As Hana had been the one who had killed him, she was perfectly allowed to loot his corpse and belongings. There were four scrolls in total, two of which bore the symbol for fire and the other two bore the symbol for lightning. Having glossed over them upon finding them Hana was pleased to note that they were scrolls detailing basic Ken and Taijutsu styles. They also appeared to hold several other scrolls inside of them, making them all the more valuable. The sword she had gained also sparked more than idle fascination. The blade was a dark crimson hue, almost like blood. It was made even more beautiful by the flame like pattern that ran along the metal of the blade, add to that the lightning patterns on the hilt and you had one eloquent blade. One that more than made up for the one Hana had lost in the fight.

Shaking herself from admiring the blade, Hana turned to the four scrolls she had pilfered from the leaders tent. The scrolls themselves were not in what could be considered good shape, each looked to be old yet as well looked after as they could be. In fascination she opened one of the scroll, hoping it contained the forms for whatever style the samurai had used to combat her party. However the information was not what she had expected. The first scroll she looked at certainly did contain information on a fighting style, as well as several jutsu's that worked well in conjunction with the style. The problem however was that the style and the jutsu's were completely specialized. Specialized to the point that they were almost like the techniques of her own clan, damn near useless to anyone else

"Goddamn it all to hell!" Hana seethed as she threw the scroll onto the ground in frustration.

"How the hell did those moronic samurai learn shit from clan scrolls?" Hana growled as she looked through one of the other scrolls. Sure enough it too was specialized to something only someone with a particular bloodline could actually use effectively. Worse still it seemed that the Samurai's entire fighting style was a bastardized version of the scrolls fighting style, and she lacked the go between to turn the things from the scrolls into something she could actually use.

"Shit, all that excitement for nothing, at least I got this sword." Hana sighed as she flopped onto her back in the small clearing behind the main house, holding the sword above her head and admiring it in the fading light of day to calm her anger.

It was at that moment that she noticed what looked to be a person flying over the Inuzuka compound. What was stranger still was that the flying figure was suddenly struck in the head and had started to plummet downward, directly towards her. It took all of twenty seconds for the information that what she was seeing could not possibly be a genjutsu. After that she quickly scrambled away from the coming impact zone of the mysterious figure. However she was surprised when the figure seemed to right themselves before gliding the remaining distance across the grounds before crashing and rolling across the grounds.

"Well that wasn't fun." The prone figure grumbled from behind the bandages that hid his lower face.

"Who the hell are you?" Hana asked as she quickly buried the shock of seeing what looked to be an angel fallen from heaven land in her yard. She surpassed a gasp as his dark reflective blue eyes finally found hers. It was then that an expression of confusion crossed the prone forms face.

"Wait, ain't you Kiba's sister?" It asked in a voice that she now felt was slightly familiar.

"How do you know my brother's name?" She asked, her own confusion now becoming evident in her voice.

" I thought it was you, you're Bana, right?" he asked in a cheerful tone as he stretched his wings and rotated his shoulders.

"That's Hana!" She shouted, now almost fully convinced that she knew who had crashed into her yard. But the sheer impossibility of the handsome looking young man in front of her being the resident eyesore was next to impossible.

"Oh, right. I always messed that up, sorry Hana-neechan." He answered sheepishly, hammering the final nail into the coffin and confirming his identity.

"Naruto? What the hell happened to you, why do you have wings?" She asked as she tried to force down the thoughts she had previously held about the boy in front of her.

"Well during my first C-rank, things sorta got out of hand. Turns out my mom was from Kiri and she had a bloodline." He said with what looked to be a childish version of his sensei's eye-smile.

"That's the understatement of the year." Hana scoffed as she looked at the young Genin before her, pulling what she knew from past experience and the stories her little brother had told her. Though seeing as the information was about a scrawny loudmouthed eyesore, not the semi muscular young man with what looked to be a high quality sword.

"Yeah I guess it is, but it was a wild ride. I even got to meet one of my mom's old students, He gave me her sword see." Naruto said enthusiastically as he pulled his sword out for Hana too examine. She was utterly floored when she noticed the similarities between it and her new chokuto.

"That blade was your mom's?" She asked in shock.

"Yup, apparently all Uzumaki have blades like this, or they did." Naruto said before looking slightly downcast. It was this that brought Hana to a slight conundrum. According to the Naruto swords of the make like her new blade were meant for his family, and judging by his strange new appearance he probably had the bloodline needed for him to use the abilities mentioned in her scrolls. As he seemed to be the one the scrolls and sword belonged to it would be natural and right to return them to him. Yet she had earned them by killing the previous owner. All in all it left her at a bit of a stalemate.

After a few moments when it looked like neither would say anything more, Naruto turned and made to take off. Yet before he could Hana finally reached her decision.

"Wait Naruto, about your clan," She said brashly.

"What about it?" Naruto asked as he turned to face him again.

"Look, during my last mission I ran into this samurai, and he had a sword that looked a lot like yours." She explained. Instantly she saw the hope leek into his eyes. She almost felt bad about continuing, but seeing as she had already started she couldn't really stop.

"Well he was an enemy, but I did manage to retrieve these off of him." She said as she motioned to the scrolls and sword on the ground. Instantly she noted the change in his demeanor as small arcs of electricity began to play across his eyes.

"When you say retrieved, what exactly do you mean?" He asked coldly.

"As I said he was an enemy, he tried to kill me and my team. What did you expect me to do?" She growled back. This of course placated him slightly, but she could still sense the tension in the air between him and herself.

"So what is the point of you telling me this?" He asked quietly.

"Well the scrolls aint really worth anything to me, I figured I could return them to you." She answered sharply, not really caring for Naruto's attitude at large.

"What's the catch?" Naruto asked suspiciously.

"Look gaki I'm trying to be nice here, what the hell's with the attitude?" Hana barked in irritation.

"Right, and you're planning on giving me things because?" He asked smartly, fully expecting that the scrolls she was trying to return would come with some kind of price.

"Well they are yours right?" She growled.

"Maybe, but from what Aniki said, my clan wouldn't part with their blades or scrolls easy. So how did you get a hold of them?" He shot back.

"I already told you, some samurai I killed had them on him. He probably killed one of your family members to get them. Look if you don't want them I'll just keep them." She huffed.

"I didn't say I didn't want them, I just asked why you're simply giving them to me. Most people here aren't that nice." Naruto replied coldly. Hana nearly barked out some form of comeback for his attitude. As far as she knew the people of Konoha were the nicest in the world. But then she remembered exactly whom she was dealing with. She knew that he wasn't well liked by most people, though she really had no idea why. Simple harmless pranks were not enough to get that kind of animosity. She just knew that he probably had enough happen to him that he was mistrustful of priceless gifts. It almost made her sick to think about what someone could have done to make him mistrustful of such acts of genuine kindness. However his current attitude still took up the forefront of her mind, and frankly he was pissing her off.

"Look, I'm honestly trying to be nice here. I can't really learn jack-shit from these scrolls. So what's the point of me having them? You however can learn from them, and by doing so you'll be a better asset to our village, so take the damn scrolls and the sword and get out of here before I sick the nin-ken on you." She growled out lightly. Naruto stood there looking at her quietly for a few moments before he just shook his head and moved to pick up the scrolls. He seemed to be happy as he read that two of them were of the lightning style. Yet when he moved to pick of the sword, he stopped and seemed to draw away from it.

"What's the matter, that sword not good enough for your high standards?" Hana growled out confrontationally.

"Keep it, I've already got a sword." Naruto replied as he turned to take off back into the skies around Konoha.

"I thought your family didn't part with their blades easily?" Hana asked mockingly.

"Consider it payment for the scrolls." Naruto replied before he took off with a mighty flap of his wings, leaving a slightly wind-ruffled Inuzuka maiden to pick up the discarded Kokoroken.

"That kid has ball of steel to mouth off to an Inuzuka woman like that." A voice came from the shadows, startling Hana. Turning she saw her mother standing in the shadows. Though she figured it had to be her, very few can truly sneak up on an Inuzuka.

"Okaa-san?" Hana asked respectfully.

"That gaki will go far, mark my words pup." Tsume answered with a feral smile before turning and leaving her confused daughter by herself.

"What just happened?" She asked as she looked towards where her mother had appeared from, and then to the skies were Naruto had taken off to.

777

The next day three of the total four members of team seven sat at their usual meeting place waiting for the fourth. However the present three were not waiting for the usual suspect, instead they stood waiting for another.

"Were the hell is that baka!" Sakura screamed as she scanned the skies, looking for the new tell tale red and black.

"Ma ma, Sakura-chan, could you keep it down, I'm trying to read here." Kakashi asked lazily as he turned the pages of his book.

"But sensei, Naruto should have been here by now. He's keeping us from valuable training time." Sakura whined as she yet again took to looking at the sky.

"Just be patient, worrying like that will make you old." Team seven's sensei replied.

"Sasuke what do you think could be taking him so long?" Sakura asked as she turned to her crush.

"Don't know, don't care." He answered coldly from his spot on the ground. He honestly didn't care where Naruto was at this point. He was mostly concerned with going over the fight he'd had with the blond previously. Trying to come up with some form of workable strategy for the next time they faced one another.

"Sakura I told you not to worry." Kakashi said as just a hint of annoyance started to creep into his voice.

"But sensei-" Sakura made to protest, that was however until an abnormally large amount of Chakra washed over the area, followed by a very loud vocalization,

"Kai!" Shouted the voice of the missing teammate.

Naruto looked at the group in front of him in confusion, as Kakashi didn't disperse like he had expected him to. Instead he merely tilted his head to the side as his team looked at him with equal amount of confusion.

"Naruto why did you try to dispel a genjutsu?" Kakashi asked.

"Because you're here on time." Was the deadpan response.

"BAKA! You're late!" Sakura yelled as she bashed him on the head angrily.

"Well I'm sorry, I was training to kill time." Naruto grumbled as he recovered from the attack.

"You were training?" Sasuke asked curiously.

"Well yeah, Kakashi-sensei's usually always two hours late, I figured I could use that to get some extra training in." Naruto replied honestly. As his team looked at Naruto with mild embarrassment Kakashi couldn't help but try to save face due to the completely accurate accusation.

"Where exactly were you training?" Sasuke asked with a slight hint of curiosity.

"Some huge forest surrounded by a fence, there were lots of big animals there, plus this semi-crazy lady in a brown jacket." Naruto answered.

"Did she say anything to you?" Kakashi asked with more interest than usual.

"She gave me this note and told me to come back to play with her in three years." Naruto answered as he handed the note to Kakashi. Unfolding it he found that it read simply.

'This Gaki is now property of the snake mistress Anko.'

"Be that as it may Naruto, please try to be here at the time specified." Kakashi ordered slightly worried that Anko had taken such an interest in his student. Bad enough that he was being influenced by a single week with Zabuza, who knows what Anko, could do to his mind.

"Okay, but only if you take your own advice." Naruto replied happily, completely unaware of his sensei's worry.

"Can we just get to why Kakashi is here early?" Sakura asked as she saw her sensei about to respond in some way that would only draw the conversation out longer than necessary.

"Thank you Sakura. As you three all know, Nami was a disaster. Though it has opened my eyes to several thing, most of all the fact that I have been overly lax when it comes to training you. I plan to remedy that." Kakashi explained.

"How?" Sasuke asked with a cold mask to hide his excitement.

"First order of business is that all of you shall undergo intense physical training and chakra exercises for no less than six hours a day probably more in Naruto's case. Followed by an hour of sparring, both one-on-one against each other, and three-on-one against myself. Following this I shall teach each of you a jutsu that suits your elemental type and current level of chakra. If you master it to a certain point then I shall teach you a new jutsu. You shall have an hour to train that jutsu while I am here, after that I expect you to work on mastering it on your own time. After said hour on the jutsu we might, we might have a mission. But most likely we will not since I plan on working you three into the ground. Am I understood?" Kakashi asked seriously, leaving no room for disagreement. His question was answered by three heads nodding, one hesitant, one uncaring, and one overly enthusiastic.

"Very well then, let the training commence."

The next six hours would be considered near torturous to both Sasuke and Sakura. Though Naruto took everything in stride and with enthusiasm. In those six hours Kakashi made sure to throw them through a meat grinder, all in the name of toughening them up. Though Sakura couldn't see how making them run from him as he threw real Kunai at them could possibly be considered training. Add to that occasional nest filled with angry bees and the other random predators he some how steered into their path, not to mention the angry squirrels, who knew the little things could be so viscous? All of it made for a very exhausting run. And that was only the first hour. Obscure chakra building exercises, both for control as well as increasing the size were used. And then there was him having her do the strange sit up over the pile of burning wood. All in all by the end of the six hours Sakura was no longer sure that Kakashi was trying to make them stronger, she obviously thought he was trying to kill them.

The next hour was thankfully much more relaxing to her than anything else. Since she was the most out of shape and exhausted after the 'training'. Thus she was not chosen to spar first. Instead she got to watch yet another sparing match between Naruto and Sasuke. Though it was not nearly as heated as the one she had watched previously. However she was unable to avoid the next match that pitted her against a tired, yet some how still energized Naruto. After that the hour spent learning jutsu was the nicest she had ever had.

"Okay team, that about raps it up for today." Kakashi finally said as team seven sat around him in various states of exhaustion.

"Thank Kami." Sakura gasped.

"It wasn't that bad was it?" Naruto asked as he looked at both his teammates, only to receive glares from the both of them.

"Naruto-kun, not everyone has your stamina, be a little more mindful of your teammates limits. You may have to make a decision one-day about who takes what role in a mission, that decision will have to be made on what they can and cannot do. Understood?" Kakashi chided.

"Hai sensei." Naruto replied solemnly.

"Good, now then how about some food?" Kakashi asked his team.

"I'd like that sensei." Sakura replied.

"Hn." Sasuke grunted in what could be taken as an affirmation.

"Can it be ramen?" Naruto asked hopefully.

"Nope, I think a stop at a barbeque would be best, remember what Zabuza said Naruto, you have to have a balanced diet." Kakashi replied.

The short trip to the barbeque was quick and entirely uneventful. They of course received a few looks, but considering the fact that word of Naruto's new looks had already circulated to most of Konoha it wasn't that surprising. As they all sat down to wait for their meal Kakashi brought up the subject that he had mostly been dreading telling his genin about. Though they had caught small pieces of what the news was. Naturally when he flat out told them what was to occur, they took it as well as could be expected.

"You want us to what!" Sakura shouted in shock.

"I really don't see why you're making such a big deal out of this Sakura-chan. It's not like I'm asking much." Kakashi replied.

"Not asking much! Are you completely out of your mind? Surely you two have some problem with this arrangement?" Sakura asked her fellow teammates.

"Hn,"

"Ma, can't be all that bad Sakura-chan." Naruto answered.

"Can't be all that bad? You do comprehend what it is he's asking don't you?" Sakura asked in shock.

"Yeah I do understand, I also understand that he's not asking us, he's telling us." Naruto replied.

"Very good Naruto-kun, I'm not asking." Kakashi said cheerfully.

"But, but, but." Sakura whined helplessly as the food was finally placed in front of them.

"Face it Sakura there's no way out of this." Kakashi said mirthfully.

"Besides Sakura-chan this way you get to see me and Sasuke-teme more often. I can understand on one part, but really this aint that big a deal." Naruto said, as he seemed to mimic Kakashi's ability to eat without removing his facial coverings.

"But I wanted this to be my choice, not something forced on me." Sakura argued.

"Come on, I really don't see why you're arguing, I thought you'd jump at this. After all you three will be sharing." Kakashi added.

"Sharing? But I don't want to share with him!" Sakura cried out as she pointed at Naruto.

"Okay on that I have to agree with her, I don't want to share with the teme." Naruto added.

"I don't want to share with either of you." Saskue added his two cents.

"Again, I'm not asking. I'm telling you. You three will now be living together, as well as sharing the same room. This is effective immediately. Your things have already been gathered and placed in our new dwelling. The Hokage himself has approved this so that you three can work out your issues between one another and learn to work cohesively as a team. Am I understood?" Kakashi asked seriously.

"Hai, sensei." Came the three replied.

"Good now eat your food." He said as he turned back to his own meal.

777

That evening team seven found themselves in their new home. It wasn't an extravagant home by any standard. It was mostly an average three bedrooms, two bathrooms home. Two floors with a small living room and a kitchen large enough that it could accommodate the four inhabitants. Settling in was relatively easy, though it was fraught with moans of protest from Sakura.

Naruto found all of it to actually be some kind of grand adventure. As someone who was used to always being alone, he viewed being in a new home with his team as a major step up in life. Sasuke too was not unperturbed by the new direction life was taking him. As he had once lived in the clan compound, surrounded by family, he was quite used to sharing space with others. Though it had been years since that were the case. Over all he took a hidden pleasure with this new development.

It was as they lay down to sleep however that things between this team of misfits began to change. Naruto had taken the bed closest to the window of the room and was lying on his stomach, shirtless and in orange pajama bottoms. Sasuke who had taken his bed and moved it to the wall opposite the door, sat shirtless on his bed gazing between Naruto and Sakura. Sakura who had her bed directly next to the door was dressed in pink pajam's and was fighting down the urge to blush madly as she tried to lay herself down to sleep. But she was noticing a major problem in her endeavors, a question on the very tip of her tongue that she absolutely had to have answered. Seeing no way to get the rest she needed with it unasked, She turned towards her winged teammate and asked,

"Hey Naruto?"

"Hai, Sakura-chan?" He replied without moving.

"Ano, I was wondering?" She continued

"Hai."

"Well, why do you act the way you do?" She finnaly asked.

"Nani, what do you mean?" Naruto asked back as he sat up, genuinely confused by the question.

"Well, from what Zabuza-san told us about your bloodline, to get wings of your color you needed to live a hard life right? So why are you so…?" She asked trailing off, not knowing how to further word her query.

"That is actually a good question, one which I too would like to know the answer too." Sasuke added.

"Wait you two want to know why I've got black wings, yet am not all broody like you teme?" Naruto asked as he took a pot shot at Sasuke, one that he simply brushed aside in favor of the answer to the question.

"You could say that." Sasuke replied.

"Well I guess you could say it's because of some rather good advice someone once gave me." Naruto replied quietly as he pushed himself up with his arms.

"What advice was that?" Sakura asked sheepishly.

"And who gave it?" Sasuke asked, wondering who could impart something that could have such a lasting effect on the blond.

"The advice is simply this, 'you can either use your experiences to build character, or you can let them become baggage to weigh you down.' I take this as meaning shit happens and it is more fun to be a happy idiot than to be a brooding genius. And the man who gave me that advice is long since dead. But I will always remember that and live by those words." Naruto replied with a small emotionless smile.

"But you're not an idiot, Zabuza-san called you a prodigy, you can't be all that dumb." Sakura argued.

"To be honest Sakura, I am an idiot. I don't know jack about history or any of the bookwork they gave us in the academy. I don't know much about how to handle certain situations, and according to many people I know, I lack anything resembling tact. I'm rude, crude, and a smart-ass to boot. But I'm happy the way I am." Naruto replied.

"So you have fun acting like an idiot?" Sasuke asked in confusion.

"I'm not acting, and I most certainly do have fun. Ask yourself this Sasuke, are you happy the way you are now. Has whatever it is that weighs on your mind brought you even a moment of happiness? If you asked me I'd say not one bit. You seem to hold everyone at arms length, and for me, who's never really had anyone till now, that seems rather sad."

"What would you know?" Sasuke asked suddenly angry with the blond. "Have you ever lost anyone dear to you? Or have you always been alone?"

"For your information teme, I have lost people I cared about. In fact it was that event that happened to help along the blackness of my wings!" Naruto yelled back with a sudden ferocity that scared Sakura.

"Oh yeah, what could have been so bad that you can compare it to my loss?" Sasuke shot back heatedly.

"Did you know that old man Ichiraku used to have a son and a wife?" Naruto asked suddenly.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Sasuke growled.

"Apparently not," Naruto growled back before he continued. "He used to have a son, and a wife. And they were like family to me. All of them were. Hell his son got married and he and his wife were planning on adopting me. But on my birthday, a group of drunken villagers set fire to their house. Old man Ichiraku's son, his wife, his daughter-in-law, and his unborn grandchild all died in that fire. Those villagers set that fire because the Ichiraku family was nice to me. They are dead because of me!" Naruto shouted out, tears free flowing down his eyes.

"Why would someone do something like that?" Sakura asked, tears freely flowing down her eyes.

"I was born on the very day of the Kyuubi attack, I guess a lot of people used me as a scapegoat. Hell a few of them think I'm actually the damn fox reincarnated. They can't touch me since Jiji's always looked out for me, but a few of them still find ways to take their grief out on me." He stated sadly. For the longest time silence followed his speech. Finally Sasuke spoke, breaking the emotion filled silence.

"No."

"No what Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked in confusion.

"No I'm not happy. My entire family is dead. I'm practically alone in this world. The only other Uchiha out there is my bother, and he's the one…" Sasuke trailed off not feeling entirely comfortable revealing all the aspects of his past.

"He's the one what?" Naruto asked in confusion.

"Naruto! Don't you know what happened to Sasuke's family?" Sakura asked madly. Naruto recalled a few Uchiha being in the academy when he started, but one day there was only Sasuke. It had really confused him when that happened, but in the end he just pushed it aside and moved on with life. Now however he had the full picture.

"He's the one isn't he? The one you want to kill, because he took everything from you." Naruto growled out as he remembered what he thought at the time were Sasuke's dying words.

"Yes." Sasuke whispered sadly.

Silence once more filled the room. Sakura could only glance between the two boys she found herself teamed, and now living with. Both of them completely alone in the world save for team seven. She suddenly felt very shallow. Both boys had innumerous emotional scars, and here she was starting conversations that dredge said scars up. What would she know of the wounds they had suffered? Sure her mother had died, as had her uncle, but she was much too young to even have a clear visual of them. Besides she had always had her father as she grew up. Sasuke's parents were taken from him, and Naruto could never know a parents love.

She had the answer to her question, and yet she went to sleep far more troubled than ever before.

777

The next day marked an addition to the normal routine that Kakashi was apparently calling training. At precisely four a.m. Kakashi barged into their room and awoke them with a bucket of cold water to each of them.

"Remind me again why the hell we have to get up this early?" Sakura groused angrily, not at all happy about the time she had been awoken, or the hour she was woken at.

"Well you three, especially you Sakura, need to get a lot more physical conditioning in. And as Kushina-san always said it's best to start early." Kakashi eye smiled. For some reason Sasuke and Sakura couldn't help but shiver in fear. Naruto however was his usual exuberant self.

"So what are we doing Kakashi-sensei? Are we running?" Naruto asked with a smile clear in his voice.

"Got it in one. Sakura Henge into Naruto." Kakashi ordered suddenly.

"Wait why?" Sakura asked horrified.

"Well ever since that stunt where Naruto's wings were shown to the teenage population he's gained his own fan club." Kakashi explained lazily. This answer of course caused a shiver to run through Naruto.

"Again, why would I henge into Naruto?" She asked in frustration.

"For the smartest Kunoichi you are surprisingly slow." Kakashi replied.

"SHUT-UP!" She screamed at him.

"He's going to get them to chase you. Fifty ryo says he'll be dropping Sasuke off at his Fan club's home base. But where does that leave me?" Naruto wondered as his teammates expressions became mortified.

"But, surely he doesn't expect them to be there at this hour, does he?" Sakura asked in shock.

"You'd be surprised, from my experience with Aniki, certain fan girls seem to live at the clubs base. Thus there should be a few people there that'll give you a good chase. The others will wake up as the chase goes on and will only add to the mob." Naruto replied.

"Naruto is right again. As for who you're running with, well he's an old student of your mother's." Kakashi answered as he silently cursed to himself about who he had to leave Naruto with.

"A student of mom's you mean like Zabuza?"

"Well-"

"DYNAMIC ENTRY!"

"Not exactly." Kakashi sighed as the ever-exuberant Miato Gai crashed through a window.

"Greetings Kakashi my eternal rival, I am here as you requested to help with the training of my most youthful sensei's child!" Gai said happily as his eyes sparkled.

"This guy was mom's student?" Naruto asked as he took in the horrifying combination of green spandex, huge eyebrows, and the bowl-cut.

"Yosh, I most certainly was a student of the youthful Kushina. And it will be my honor to help her child on the path of youthfulness!" Gai answered happily. Naruto simply started at the man a bit longer before he turned to Kakashi.

"Are you sure there's no way we could find Aniki?" He asked calmly as Gai seemed to burst into tears at his question.

"Unfortunately no, finding Zabuza would be difficult, convincing the council to even consider letting him enter Konoha even more so. Gai will do well enough. After all he was trained by your mom, so he should be able to provide you with a good morning run, not only that but he might be able to give you some weights for future training." Kakashi replied.

"Oh, you as planning on using weights in your training?" Gai suddenly asked, his previous depression gone in an instant.

"Well, yeah. Zabuza said weights make for great training. Plus they can be really good in combat. He once showed me how to throw the weights at the enemy after you take them off." Naruto answered hesitantly.

"Yosh, this Zabuza fellow sounds like quite the wise fellow. But for now, let us start your most youthful training Naruto-kun. Come my student awaits us so that we may start our morning jog." Gai stated happily as he grabbed Naruto and carted him away, all the while talking about weights and the 'youthfulness' of training.

"Kakashi-sensei are you sure it's a good idea to leave Naruto alone with that man?" Sakura asked, still slightly shell-shocked from her meeting.

"He should be fine, and don't worry about him being infected by Gai. Zabuza got to him first." Kakashi answered.

"How does a man become like that?" Sasuke asked as he watched the blinding green beast drag his teammate away.

"The commonly accepted theory is that Kushina-san's training broke his brain, but it might be a pre-existing condition." Kakashi replied.

"Wait, Naruto's mother broke his brain? Through her training methods." Sakura asked, to which Kakashi nodded.

"And is this the same training you plan to put us through?" Sasuke asked slightly nervous.

"Don't worry, its been watered down enough that you'll stay sane, probably." Kakashi added as an after thought.

"Probably?"

"No time to worry about that, Sakura hurry up and henge into Naruto. Sasuke, don't bother putting on a shirt. We need to get you two to the fan clubs as quickly as possible. We're wasting time here." Kakashi stated as he started ushering them to pick up the pace. All in all he was quite looking forward to watching his students suffer through the same morning ritual Kushina had forced him to suffer through.

777

For the next two months things progressed in much the same manner. Every morning Kakashi would wake team seven and send them out for their morning runs. After which he would subject them to what could be considered questionable training methods. The only thing saving them from being questionable at all was the fact that they were receiving results. Naruto now had far better control over his chakra than he had when he had first left the academy. Sakura had also noted a great increase in her reserves. All three had noted that their strength, skill, speed, and jutsu knowledge had greatly increased. And it was because of this increase in ability that Kakashi thought his team ready to take on another C-ranked mission.

"Team seven reporting for mission assignment." Kakashi stated business like as he and the rest of team seven stood before the Hokage, waiting for their mission.

"Are you sure Kakashi, after what happened last time?" The Hokage started, only to be cut off by Kakashi.

"With all do respect Hokage-sama, what happened in Nami was a fluke, there is no way that my team could pull another mission like that." Kakashi said confidently.

"Very well, I currently need a team to head to the village of Akagake (Redcliff). It is a village that provides us with iron and other ore that the village needs for its survival. Recently it has been under attack by bandits." The Hokage explained.

"Am I to assume that you are dispatching us to exterminate the bandits?" Kakashi asked carefully.

"No nothing like that, I've already sent a team out, with orders to hold up there. No your job is to deliver this message to them, as well as assist the team already there if they do need it. Though I highly doubt that they'll need any help." The Hokage replied.

"Very well, team seven accepts this mission and shall head out at once." Kakashi bowed and accepted the scroll. Then he and the rest of the team moved to exit and begin preparing for departure.

"Naruto a moment please?" Sarutobi asked before they could all leave. The entire team paused as Naruto stopped to look back at him.

"It's okay guys, I'll catch up easy." He assured his team as he turned to face his surrogate grandfather. As his team filed out the door Naruto took the time to examine the Hokage. Though the older man had assisted him for most of his life, there was now the small trace of resentment towards the older man for his actions.

"Naruto I wanted to talk to you about your mother." The Hokage finally said after a long minute of silence, this however only angered the blond.

"Oh, so now you want to talk about her." He growled.

"Naruto you have to understand-" Sarutobi tried to explain, only for Naruto to cut him off mid sentence.

"Understand what, that you've lied to me my entire life? I can understand you keeping the info about what I hold secret. Hell I can even forgive that. No matter how much I wanted to know why they hated me, no child want to know that they've got a monster inside of them, one that'll take any chance they get to take over and dish out wholesale slaughter. But to keep my mother a secret like that? How could you do that to me Jiji?" Naruto asked tearfully.

"Naruto, I was trying to protect you." He said sadly.

"You think I don't know that? But how is flat out lying to me all the times I asked you helping me. I know I'm not the best at keeping secrets, but you could have told me something. You could have told me that they were shinobi. Kakashi did at least that. Sure he didn't tell me Tou-san's name, but at least I know he existed and that he cared for me. And I also know why you didn't tell me. I'd have been a target. But you still could have told me something." Naruto growled out through his tears.

"I am truly sorry Naruto, I have no real excuse for keeping them a secret for as long as I have. But I am afraid that I must still keep your fathers name a secret for now." Sarutobi said sadly as he gazed at the boy he could only wish to share blood with.

"That's fine _Hokage-sama_, you do that. It's what you're good at." Naruto spat venomously as he turned and stormed out of the office.

'_Kushina, Minato, forgive this old man for what he must put your child through.' _Sarutobi thought mournfully as he sat alone in the office. With each passing moment the secrets he kept about Naruto grew heavier and heavier. He knew that soon he could reveal them all and the burden would be lifted from his heart. But until that day he would keep those secrets. Until Naruto was able to handle them he would make sure that they stayed hidden away. But would the blond ever forgive him when the secrets came to light, or would he loose even more of the young boys trust.

777

"What did the Hokage want to talk about?" Sakura asked her teammate as he flew in through the second floor window.

"My parents." The Naruto replied simply before moving to collect the required things for the mission.

"Did you learn anything new about them?" Sasuke asked.

"Not a damn thing. He still wants to keep everything about them wrapped up in his bundle of lies and subterfuge. I could have family out there still alive and willing to care about me. For all I know Ino could be my cousin." Naruto replied angrily.

"You related to Ino-pig, what makes you say that?" Sakura asked with a laugh.

"You know any other ninja family of blue-eyed blonds in Konoha?" Sasuke asked.

"Look lets just move on from this. I'd rather just get to the mission, do it, get paid, then move on with life." Naruto replied.

"Gomen, Naruto. I'm just trying to be helpful." Sakura replied sheepishly.

"S'ok. Not mad at you. Now who wants to bet on if this'll be a snafu mission?" Naruto asked suddenly cheerful again. The others could only stare at him as he finished packing.

"You actually want to take bets on if the mission will go bad?" Sakura asked in confusion. Naruto only nodded with an eye-smile.

"Why?" Sasuke asked.

"Cause if no one bets then I'll have made the silent bet of one hundred ryo with nobody." Naruto answered as if it was the simplest thing in the world.

"Which did you bet on, snafu or safe mission?" Sakura asked.

"Snafu."

"Put me down for one hundred on safe." Sasuke replied, seemingly taking this as a competition with Naruto.

"I'm with Sasuke." The pinkette added.

"Good, now lets go ask Kakashi-sensei what his bet will be on." Naruto said happily as he jumped out the window and headed for the eastern gate.

"Did we just make a bet on the outcome of this mission?" Sakura asked suddenly realizing what she'd done.

"Yes we did."

"Was it a good bet?"

"I can only hope." Sasuke replied before following in Naruto's wake, Sakura following soon after.

777

As it turned out Kakashi really didn't like the idea of them betting on the mission, something about bad luck. However it would seem that his superstition was false. In the two day they had been traveling not a single thing had happened to them. No nukenin jumping out of puddles or throwing zanbato at them like kunia. If anything it looked like both Sasuke and Sakura could look forward to a hundred extra ryo with their mission wages.

That was of course until two hours in during the trek of the third day.

"Remind me again why we're walking and not tree hoping, or flying in my case?" Naruto asked.

"Because moving that fast would disrupt my reading." Kakashi answered honestly as he turned the books pages.

"So this has nothing to do with your reputation of always being late?" Sakura asked dryly.

"Maybe." Kakashi replied.

"Baka." Sasuke whispered as he kept his eyes forward. Thus he was the first to notice as five armed men stepped onto the path brandishing swords at them.

"Halt, give us all your valuables and you just might live." Shouted one of the dirtier looking bandits.

"Are you sure we should be robbin' them?" asked one of the other bandits in a slow drawl that spoke of low intellect.

"Of course we should there are only four of them, three of them children, one of them looks to want to play super-hero." Replied the obvious leader, referring to the folded state of Naruto's wings. He also helped prove the stereotype of a stupid bandit.

"Right then, hand it over." The slow one said, placated by the leaders logic.

"I thought the Hokage said that all the bandits should be handled by the team he sent out earlier?" Sakura asked Kakashi, completely ignoring the five men before them.

"He did, these guys are probably just stragglers that escaped the cleansing. That or they're just a new gang moving in. Either way we should probably take them down." Kakashi said as he put his book away.

"Hey are you guys ignoring us?" Shouted one of the bandits indignantly.

"Yes." Came the four voices of the Konoha-nin.

"Well then we can't have that, men attack."

"**Raiton: Shuurai no Jutsu! **(Lightning release: Lightning strike.)**" **Shouted Naruto as he jumped into the air finishing his hand seals, he then extended his hands and his pointed his fingers toward the bandits. Immediately arcs of electricity came from his fingertips, striking the bandits. Singeing four of them and even killing the lead bandit.

"Shit, they're shinobi!" Cried one of the larger bandits. Quicly he and his companions made to turn and run, only to find Sasuke blocking their path just as he finished his hand seals.

"**Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!" **Sasuke yelled as he exhaled the large fireball. It consumed two more of the bandits. Immediately he felt the need to retch as the scent of burnt flesh and hair assaulted his nostrils.

The remaining two Bandits could only look behind them and in front of them, seeing they were surrounded they both proved to have larger IQ's than there fellows as they both dropped there weapons and surrendered.

"So who exactly are you two and why are you here?" Kakashi asked the two bandits currently tied to a tree with ninja wire.

"Well we were part of Karasu-sama's troops, but I think it's safe to say we're going to be spending time in jail now." One of them answered, to which the other actually looked on in shock.

"Ichi, you would actually betray Karasu-sama?" He asked in shock and rage.

"Why not, isn't like we have much choice. I'd rather live longer in a jail cell than die by their hands right now." The newly identified Ichi replied.

"We swore an oath to him, that's why." The other man stated angrily.

"So it seems like you serve someone, tell me why has your lord sent you here?" Kakashi continued questioning.

"We were supposed to make sure no one actually made it to Akagake, after that team of Shinobi showed up, Karasu-sama wanted to make sure that they didn't recive anymore back up." Ichi replied. The news however had a much larger effect on his captors than he expected however.

"You are part of the band that's been attacking Akagake?" Kakashi asked in shock, surely things couldn't end like his last C-rank.

"Yup," The man replied.

"How many of you are there?" Kakashi asked suddenly much more serious than he was previously.

"No idea, I don't know how to count beyond ten." Replied the bandit honestly.

"S'a good thing to, other wise you'd give up all of Karasu-sama's information wouldn't you?" Accused the other bandit.

"Hey I plan on living alright Mochi." Ichi growled.

"How about you, do you know how many other bandits are in your gang?" Kakashi demanded of the other bandit.

"Even if I knew I wouldn't tell you shit!" He replied angrily.

"Not helpful." Kakashi sighed before turning to the other bandit.

"Do you know the status of the other team of Konoha-nin?"

"There's only two of 'em left, plus three huge dogs one of them has with her." He answered.

"Wait there was three?" Naruto suddenly asked.

"Yup, three dogs with one feral looking girl." The man nodded.

"Shit, that's Hana." Naruto swore angrily.

"You mean Inuzuka Hana? Kiba's older sister?" Sakura asked in horror.

"Yeah," Naruto answered before turning his gaze at the bound highwaymen.

"Anything else you think we should know?" Kakashi asked finally after Naruto had thoroughly intimidated them.

"Well about Karasu." Ichi said hesitantly.

"What about him?"

"Well he's kind of like the blond over there, not exactly." The bandit replied.

"What do you mean he's like me?" Naruto asked darkly.

"Well he's got wings kind of like yours, but smaller."

"Is his family name Uzumaki?" Naruto asked, hope leaking ever so slightly into his voice.

"No, I don't think he has a family name. What I do know is what he told us about himself. Apparently he's a hanyou." The bandit answered.

"Wait you mean an actual hanyou?" Sakura asked in shock.

"Ne ne, Sakura-chan, what's a hanyou." Naruto asked in confusion.

"I'll explain later." Kakashi said as he turned away from the bandits.

"But I want to know now." Naruto whined.

You'll learn, but first we have to decide what we do, looks like you get that hundred ryo from both Sasuke and Sakura. But do you three want to turn back or keep going?" Kakashi asked seriously.

"What do you think my answer is sensei?" Naruto asked dryly.

"Right, Sasuke, Sakura?"

"I'm with the dobe in this."

"Well I guess we still should finish the mission and help out the survivors."

"Then it looks like we continue on wards." Kakashi sighed as he stood up and looked in the general direction of the settlement.

"Excuse me, what about us?" Asked Ichi.

"You get to stay tied up to a tree and contemplate your actions." Kakashi replied harshly before he and his genin started moving through the trees at a rapid pace.

"Great stuck here with a traitor." Mochi mumbled bitterly.

"Oh shut-up."

Fiori: and there is another chapter done hope you all liked it. Now I hope you'll all review enough or I'll-

Haku: Good lord save me (Runs out of a room without a shirt. Orochimaru follows)

Fiori: I'm talking here

*BANG* (Haku dodges bullet and Orochimaru's head explodes as the hollow point bullet exits his skull)

Fiori: Hey what do you know; I did get to shoot him in the face.

Haku: Oh thank god, you had no idea what he wanted to do to me.

Fiori: I'll bet. And trust me I really don't want to know. Remember i still have my gun.

Kimimaro: Orochimaru-sama nooooooooooo! You killed him you bastard, prepare to join my sweet prince!

Fiori: What, no I did something good for once. (Starts to flee)

Haku: as apposed to all the other evil things you've done! Karam's a bitch aint she?

*Bang* (Haku get shot in the leg again)

Haku: Why?

*Bang* *Bang* Bang* (Fires at Kimimaro)

Fiori: Walk it off.

Jiraiya: Well since they're all busy I guess it falls to me to tell you all to review so no one else gets shot. Please hurry so that I may continue writing Icha Icha and teaching Naruto-kun jutsu's.

Fiori: Bye kids.

*Bang*

Fiori: Die already you freaky bone freak!


End file.
